The Serpent Master
by Shaun056
Summary: Set two years after the epilogue, The Serpent Master details the exploits of Jenny, Will and Cleo, as they uncover the mystery of The Serpent Master in their first year at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1 On the Path Home

Chapter One

On the Path Home

 **July 2008**

Claire fiddled with the pendant around her neck, lightly brushing it with her fingers. She looked up at the scratched sign telling her that she was in front of the Hog's Head, and gave a raspy sigh. Giving up her life was not something she did lightly.

At this time of night, the place was mercifully empty. Only the old barman stood, cleaning glasses with an expression of dull boredom etched on his face. He barely raised his head as Claire passed, but grunted into his thick beard which at least told her that he had acknowledged her presence.

Climbing the stairs, Claire thought back to what had brought her here. Ten years of hard work at the Ministry, ten years of toil making absolutely sure that they knew what they were doing. Now it had come to this. She gave an exhausted grunt, much like the one the barman had given downstairs, and finally approached an old wooden door on the landing.

This was her last chance. Go through the door and give up her life. Turn around, and carry on living. She knocked.

A short man with a large pointed nose and wearing a pink bowler hat answered.

'Claire... I wasn't expecting you.'

'No one was Saul.' Claire replied and she shouldered past him into the room.

The room was, by all accounts, a tip. A bed lay in the far corner, it's mattress turned on its side and torn in several places. Books lay strewn across the floor, some with pages ripped out, some stained and bloody. The only window was covered in a poster showing strange symbols and what Claire assumed, to be a map of the Solar System. Saul closed the door and gave Claire a disgruntled look.

'I'm sorry I didn't make much of an effort to tidy up.'

Claire gave a weak smile, though she noticed Saul did not return it.

'Not a concern, you've evidently been busy.'

'Busy's not the half of it. If I haven't got the minister barking in one ear to sort of the Troll regulatory documents, I've got my wife barking in the other ear. But you clearly didn't come here to listen to an old man moan about his current existence.'

Claire nodded. She approached the poster covering the window and traced a finger along one of the symbols. 'All this hard work can't be doing you any good Saul. Take a night off, see the wife, take her out to dinner.'

Saul's face crumpled into something Claire assumed was insult. He dashed forward, picking up books from the floor. When he got to the poster, he tore it from the wall and out of Claire's view.

'What do you want Claire. You're stalling, I know you. Telling me that I shouldn't be here? You, of all people shouldn't be here. You should be at home, spending time with the twins. How old are they now?'

'One week.'

'A week old and you've already grown bored of them? What are you going to do for the rest of their lifetimes?'

Claire's hands were beginning to shake. She moved to the mattress, turned it straight and sat down, placing her trembling hands in her lap.

'Actually... it's about the twins. The reason I'm here.'

'Oh?' Saul raised an eyebrow as he dropped a pile of books into the corner.

'It's them.'

The remaining book Saul was holding dropped to the floor with a clunk. Without bothering to pick it up, he hurried over and sat next to Claire.

'Are you... sure?'

'Positive. I assume I don't have to tell you what this means?'

Saul looked mournfully at his feet and bit his upper lip. 'Surely... you don't have to.'

'Jenny and Cleo will be much safer in the muggle world, until they have to go to Hogwarts, I'll be safer.'

A boom of thunder sounded outside followed by the shattering crack of rain. 'I don't suppose I can talk you out of it?'

'I wish you could Saul... I wish you could.'

'Then keep them safe. Keep them hidden. God knows what would happen if the wrong people found out about them.'

Claire smiled, sincerely this time. She patted Saul twice on the shoulder as she rose from the torn mattress.

'I promise you Saul, I'm not going to let anything happen to them.'

From the look on Claire's face, Saul knew she wouldn't.

 **June 2019**

The ground was covered in bugs. Ants crawled up and down fallen logs, taking snippets of leaves up and into a nest. Spiders prowled amongst them, daring any ant to make the wrong move and end up as dinner. Insects weren't confined to the ground either. In the air, flies and midges swished overhead while a trio of bee's ignored all other proceedings, and hurried from flower to flower.

Jenny Abel looked over the scene before her, panting. A clatter from behind told her her brother was not far away.

'So many bugs.' she said viewing the scene before her. Her brother, Cleo came running up beside her.

'Bet you two pounds you can't walk through without getting attacked.'

'Where did you get two pounds from?'

Cleo shrugged. He picked up a fallen stick and after shaking off a couple of ants began to prod at a branch containing a whole host of them.

'Stop it.' Jenny said nudging her brother.

'I will if you walk through.'

'You're an idiot.'

Cleo gave Jenny an amused look, but dropped it almost instantly. Jenny appeared to be approaching one of her moods.

'Come on, Mrs Braithwaite's probably waiting for us.'

Cleo sighed, dropping the stick onto the floor. Jenny assumed that if the ants had any realisation of what was going on, they'd be shaking their fists in Cleo's direction.

The short walk back onto the playing field was unmarred, apart from a quick jump over a stream. While others would have been too afraid to make such a jump, Jenny had made it far too often to be afraid of it.

'This is not a time to run away Jenny, and you Cleo. I'll have words with you at the end of the day.'

Jenny's mood was on lockdown. She'd have loved to punch her brother for getting them in trouble but she wasn't too keen on causing more trouble for herself than she was in already.

The truth was, neither Jenny nor Cleo tended to get in much trouble. The odd reprimand here or there but nothing that suggested a serious lack of respect for authority. Not that Mrs Braithwaite wanted to call them out on their respective trouble making activities. Both of them were a great credit to the school and to impose any sort of sanctions on them would come back to bite her after a while.

Academically, they were both rather average. Jenny tended to get high marks in English, while Cleo excelled in Science. It was out of the classroom that showed their skill. Jenny had one several trophy's for playing the clarinet and Cleo was captain of the school's football team. What the school would do in a month's time when they left, no one seemed to know.

'Before we finish for the day. I want everyone to walk around the field collecting as many leaves as you can.'

Jenny fell behind Cleo as he began to pick up leaves. She nudged him slightly as recompense for getting them in trouble in the first place.

'You are so going to pay for that.' Cleo said, shoving a tattered leaf into his hand.

'We'll see.'

Jenny knew his brother's threat was empty. It was the same thing he said when they had accidently spilt pain down the stairs, or when they had broken the television.

The warm June they had been enjoying meant that Jenny and Cleo often walked home from school alone. Living less than ten minutes away from the school had its advantages, and if they wanted to, they could simply cut through the woods behind the school.

'Do you really want to go to Sorenhall? What if were split up? Jamie say's his sister and brother aren't in any of the same classes.'

Jenny lowered her head, kicking a stone across the field. 'We'll have to make new friends.'

Cleo shrugged 'I don't want to make new friends.'

The path through the woods led across several streams that rolled back and forth, eventually leading out to a river, and over a crevice in the rock. Usually people went down the stone steps and back up again, but for the adventurous, there was a fallen tree as a bridge.

'You gonna wimp out today?' Cleo asked his sister as the ground hardened into rock, the fallen tree clearly visible ahead.

'Why, just because I don't want to risk breaking my neck falling down?'

Cleo began to make chicken sounds but a stopped when he saw that Jenny was getting ready to hit him again

'Go on, go over the log and we'll be even.'

Jenny sighed 'Fine, I'll go over the stupid log.'

She had done it several times before, but both had been times she had been pushed into doing it by Cleo. The log was stuck quite firmly into the ground so there was no worry of it rolling over.

Jenny gave Cleo one irritated look then placed a foot on a stubbly knot in the tree.

Her balance wasn't perfect, Jenny hadn't won any awards for gymnastics or any sporting event really. The only thing she had been close to winning was the most recent sports day when she had almost won a hundred metres sprint. If she was quick, it was possible her feet wouldn't have such a huge effect on the tree and she would make it across safely. Well, there was only one way to be sure.

Her last attempt burnt into her mind. That time she had taken it extremely slowly, the time before she had ran across. Both times she made it with no scarring or injuries of any kind.

She gave a deep breath then stepped forward, over the gap. Her body shifted slightly to the left but she countered it, her arms outstretched hoping her balance would keep her on that level.

Foot forward, then another one. It was slow progress. She daren't turn her head backwards to see Cleo's expression. No doubt he was as anxious as she was. Jenny knew that Cleo would hate himself profusely if anything happened to her.

Around halfway through she stumbled. A small knot in the tree caught her by surprise. It was in just the right place to cause her trouble. She fell forwards, her hands outstretched hoping to grab a hold of something, anything to save her. She heard Cleo's exasperated cry behind her as she fell.

The log rolled and begin to fall and everything turned one hundred times slower. She could see the world twisting as gravity took its toll on both her and the log. With one last grunt she pushed herself forwards smashing against the other side of the crevice her hands grasping onto hanging roots and a nub in the crevice side.

'Help me Cleo!'

Cleo gave his a brief look then hurried down the path and then up again on the other side. He looked down at his sister, offering an arm in support. She reached up and grasped onto her brothers arm.

'I can't hold you.' Cleo's face showed strain as he attempted to pull Jenny up. He grunted then fell back again, unable to carry his sister's weight.

Then something strange happened. Something which affected both Cleo and Jenny. Jenny began to rise. At first she thought it was Cleo, finally muscling the strength to pull her up. Then she realised that Cleo himself was just as shocked as she was. She was floating. Rising slowly upwards. Cleo's disgruntled moan made her let go of her brothers arm. She was moving sideways, over to a soft patch of ground, then she began to descend until her feet touched down on terra firma.

Her breaths were deep and slow. She touched her legs, imagining he fist to go right through them as though they were nothing but air. The dull pain she felt upon hitting herself in the thigh told her she was herself, or as much as she could be.

'Are you... okay?' Cleo asked turning to face her.

'Well, I'm not hanging on the side of a crevice anymore... so yeah.'

Cleo stared at her. His mouth half open. Jenny bit her lip.

'That was-'

'I felt it too.' Cleo said 'I mean... it wasn't just you who flew up into the air. I felt... stronger. Just before you flew. I mean yours was more impressive admittedly but-'

Jenny rushed forward and embraced her brother in a deep hug.

'What...what's going on?' she asked. The look on Cleo's face told her that he knew as much as she did.


	2. Chapter 2 History Lessons

Chapter Two

History Lessons

Neither Jenny or Cleo spoke as they hurried out onto Waverly Road, round the corner into 18 Palfrey Close. Jenny knew what Cleo was thinking, and Cleo knew exactly what Jenny was thinking. What had happened in the forest? Jenny knew of course that she had flown. She had levitated then dropped slowly to the ground once again. There was no denying that at all, even though she wanted to with every fibre of her being. Maybe she had just jumped really high and landed on the ground? If Jenny didn't have such a vibrant memory of her levitation she would have concluded that must have been what happened.

And Cleo too felt as if he had felt something. In all honesty Jenny was unsure whether Cleo was saying this just to fit in, or whether he had legitimately had an experience. She knew Cleo liked to joke around but when things got serious he was always straight with her.

She seemed to be so deep in thought that she didn't realise when she walked straight into her mother in the hallway.

'Watch where you're going Jenny.'

'Oh... sorry mum.'

'Can you get your brother and come into the living room please. I want to talk to you.'

Wondering what on earth they had done this time, Jenny flipped off her shoes and ran upstairs opening her brothers bedroom door to find Cleo lying on his back on his bed.

'Mum wants to speak to us.'

Cleo turned his head but didn't say anything. Jenny gave him a poke, 'Now.'

'What does she want that's more important than what just happened? I can't imagine anything is-'

'Until we know what happened ourselves, keep it stuhm, okay? I don't want mum worrying about us.'

Cleo's eyes dropped, defeated. He muttered something to himself but stood up and followed Jenny out of the room and downstairs.

Once in the living room, Jenny sensed something was off. Her mother was stood in front of the sofa, pacing slowly between two points. Her father was sat in the corner, watching his wife with keen interest.

'Sit down please.' she said. Cleo gave his sister a brief look but both of them sat down on the sofa. There was a moment of silence as their mother continued to pace. The only sound was the low breathing coming from their father.

Slowly, Jenny's mother looked up at her children, biting her lip she said 'Before I start... I just want to let you know that your father and I love you both very much. What I'm going to tell you isn't easy. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done.

'I suppose I better come out and say it. I know what happened in the forest.'

'What?' Jenny exclaimed 'What do you mean?'

'I mean I know that you flew, and Cleo felt strength that he's never felt before.'

'You're barking.' Jenny scoffed. Her mother's mouth twisted into what looked like a smile but it was only visible for a second so Jenny wasn't too sure.

'I thought I was too..., but there's something you should know about me...,' she breathed in deeply 'I'm a witch.'

A car in the street beyond honked it's horn. Jenny heard the unmistakable sound of a cat knocking over a bin on the other side of the road. She stared at her mother. Witch? That didn't make a lick of sense. Fortunately, Jenny was saved from speaking when Cleo asked 'A witch... like... the wicked witch of the west?'

Their mother laughed 'Well, I'd hope I'm not wicked... but... in all essence yes... a witch. And Jenny is as well. And you're a wizard.'

The car honked it's horn again. Jenny's eyes found her mothers and she sensed pleading. _'Please believe me.'_ her eyes said. Jenny wasn't sure what to believe.

'Magic is real. And... before you go questioning me again, let me prove it to you.'

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin wooden wand, pointing it at a mug on the table next to the sofa. She flicked it.

'Woah!' Cleo exclaimed, for sitting where the mug had been seconds before, was a small hamster.

'How...how did you...'

'Let me explain.'

She pulled up a chair from the other side of the room and sat down as Cleo collected the hamster into his hands.

'I've been a witch my whole life. My parents, your Nan and granddad were a witch and wizard. I went to a wizarding school, then met your father-'

'Is he a wizard too?' Cleo asked.

'No.'

Jenny jumped. She hadn't realised how quiet her father had been. His head was lowered and he had his hands either side framing it, he looked incredibly pensive.

'I'm... just as normal as the next person. When I met your mother I was just as shocked as you are. It took some time getting used to, but in the end I accepted it.'

'When you were born... I-we decided to take you out of the magical world. We didn't want you to grow up and not have any understanding of the wider world. There are people I know who grew up in the magical world and have no idea who the Prime Minister is, who Arsenal are or how a TV works. I didn't want you to be the same. I wanted you to have a normal life. As normal as possible.'

She looked over to Cleo, he was nodding slowly. Accepting it. Jenny looked up at her mother, then across to her father.

Yes she had flown earlier, but magic? It didn't add up. It didn't make any sense at all. Just this morning her mother was kissing her goodbye at the school gates. At lunch time she played football with Katie and Laura. This afternoon, magic is real and she's a witch? No. It can't be right.

'I don't believe it.' she said slowly. Her mother opened her mouth to respond but before she could Cleo interjected.

'Jenny... I'm holding a hamster that used to be a coffee mug. You flew this afternoon. Look.'

He raised up the hamster in his hands and passed it over to Jenny. He hands shook at the hamster began to crawl over her. It's tiny feet digging into her skin. She felt the warmth coming off it. The weight of it in her hands. If it had been a mug she would have surely noticed by now. But no, this was a living breathing being. Magic.

She slowly looked up her mother and nodded. Her mother smiled in response. She saw her father sit back in his chair.

'How did you know what we did earlier was magic?'

'I was watching. Magic usually show's itself in someone a few times before your eleven. Besides, it wasn't the first time you've done it.'

'It wasn't?'

Their mother shook her head.

'Nope... when you were six Jenny, you got angry because we wouldn't let you watch the telly. You stormed off into your room. When I went in to check on you, your wallpaper had turned lime green. And Cleo a few years ago you set the shower on fire... when you were in it.'

'I don't remember that...' Cleo said. Jenny too felt rather odd. When had she turned her wallpaper lime green? Not anytime she could remember.

'Well... yes... it was rather difficult, because we didn't want you to discover your magical ability too soon. So we altered your memory and made you forget it.'

Their father coughed from the corner of the room.

'Claire... perhaps it's time to tell them where they're going in September.'

'Yes... thanks Phil.' Claire looked at her two children. The smile on her face was genuine and Jenny knew that all that had happened in the past didn't matter anymore. They knew that they were magical and that was all that mattered now.

'In September... you won't be going to Sorenhall. You're going to Hogwarts.'

'What's Hogwarts?' Cleo asked.

'It's the magical school. The best in Europe... well, the best in the world. I went there when I was your age.'

Claire turned her head, a smile forming on her lips as if a memory had just come back to her.

'Where is it?'

Claire shook her head, coming out of her daydream, thought he smile was still plastered across her face. She turned to her son.

'Scotland.' she replied.

'So... we're moving to Scotland?'

'No... you stay at Hogwarts. It's a boarding school. You get a train up there on September the first. You should be getting your letters in the next few days.'

There was a pause. The smile dropped slightly and she turned to her husband who gave a curt nod.

'I realise this must be a massive shock to you. And, I'm willing to answer any questions you may have. Some of them may be more difficult to answer than others... but I'll do my best.'

Claire clearly hadn't anticipated the amount of questions the twins would ask. 'How many wizards are there in the world? How come they're all hidden? What's Hogwarts like? What do I tell my friends when I don't turn up at Sorenhall?' She managed to answer every question they had with ease but her answers just gave them more and more questions. They ordered pizza that night and she continued to talk, performing magic again twice, one for Cleo's benefit and one for Jenny's for both of them were determined to see it again, just to make sure that they were not imagining it. Come one o'clock, Claire had had enough and ordered both Jenny and Cleo to bed. Cleo fell asleep almost instantly but Jenny stayed awake. Her mind pulsed with everything she had learnt that evening. It seemed bizarre that earlier that day she was worried about her maths homework. Her world had flipped upside down in a matter of hours and when she woke up she would be waking up into a whole new world. A world where she had no idea what was in store for her.

When she woke however, it was to hear the rapping of her mother against her bedroom door, ordering her to get up and get ready for school. She almost wondered if she had dreamt the whole thing until Cleo asked her mother why they had to go to school still.

'Because you need to have some kind of understanding of the wider world. You'll thank me when you're older trust me.'

The walk to school was pretty much non-eventful though when Claire kissed them both goodbye at the school gates she pulled both of them close and said 'Remember... say nothing to anyone. Not that they'll believe you, but it's better to be safe than sorry.'

Jenny and Cleo both kept the word. The remaining days of term seemed to drag. At the end of the day Jenny and Cleo would hurry back home to be told more of the wizarding world from their mother. Every day they would learn a little more. Jenny noticed that her mother seemed to leave her wand out more and more often, though whenever anyone came around the wand went away and things, on the outside at least, seemed perfectly normal.

Finally, the last day of term arrived. Jenny and Cleo spent the day saying goodbye to school friends and playing games in class. Finally, giving their friends a big hug and keeping quiet when they spoke about meeting up in secondary school.

When they finally arrived home, they found their mother stood in the kitchen holding two thick brown envelopes looking rather excited.

'Your Hogwarts letters have arrived.' she said passing a letter to both Jenny and Cleo.

The envelope felt heavy in Jenny's hand. Scratchy writing on the front read

 _Jennifer Abel_

 _The Small Bedroom_

 _18 Palfrey Close_

 _St Albans_

 _Hertfordshire_

On the back a crest bearing a Lion a Badger, an eagle and a Snake surrounding the letter 'H'. Hogwarts. Breathing slowly, Jenny opened the envelope.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

 _HEADMISSTRESS: Minerva McGonagall_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class)_

 _Dear Miss Abel,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1 September we await your owl no later than 31 July._

 _Yours Sincerely,_

 _Neville Longbottom,_

 _Deputy Headmaster_

'What things do we need to go to Hogwarts?' Cleo asked, unfurling his own letter.

'Oh, robes... a wand, books and things.'

She gave both of her children a sincere smile and said 'Well, I guess a trip to London is in order.'


	3. Chapter 3 Diagon Alley

Chapter Three

Diagon Alley

Jenny and Cleo's birthday had passed before they could arrange a time to go to London. Claire woke them both early on a warm Tuesday in mid August, pushed a quick breakfast down them and led them to the train station. As they waited for a train, she turned to her children and said 'Open up the other parchment in the envelope, it has your school list.'

Jenny reached into her bag and pulled out the envelope then the parchment that had hidden in the envelope for the past few weeks.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

 _UNIFORM_

 _First-year students will require:_

 _1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

 _2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

 _3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

 _4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

 _Please note that all pupils clothes should carry name tags_

 _COURSE BOOKS_

 _All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

 _A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

 _Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

 _The Magical World by Hermione Granger_

 _A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

 _Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

 _OTHER EQUIPMENT_

 _1 wand_

 _1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

 _1 set glass or crystal phials_

 _1 telescope_

 _1 set brass scales_

 _Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

 _PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

'Do we get this in... Diygun Alley?' she asked her mother.

'Diagon Alley, and yes we do. You can't really go into _BHS_ and ask for a set of wizarding robes.'

A whistle caught their attention as the 09:26 service to London pulled into the station. They climbed on board, finding an empty compartment and sat down. Cleo pulled out his list again.

'Why aren't we allowed our own brooms?' he asked.

'You'll hurt yourself. Plenty of kids with no experience flying think they'll bring a broom in and fly around the school but if they haven't got any practice they'll hurt themselves... it's best if they just don't allow any first years to bring their own brooms, until they've got some practice in. You'll be taking flying lessons in your first year anyway.'

Jenny gave a worried groan. Her sense of balance, as demonstrated the other week, was less than stellar. It took her over three years to learn how to ride a bike properly and even then she struggled. Flying, she assumed would require similar skills and while she was not looking forward to it, she knew that Cleo would be excited by the prospect of learning how to fly.

The train set off, passing villages, towns, fields and forests until eventually arriving in London. Jenny and Cleo quite often went to London. For one, their grandparents lived just outside Crystal Palace. Secondly was the amount of clarinet performances Jenny had done in the city. Still, the allure of the place was still rather large for both of them. It was always nice to go somewhere big and exciting. St Albans wasn't particularly the biggest and most exciting place in the world.

The train stopped finally at City Thameslink Station and Claire ushered her children out onto the street. Jenny's excitement was growing with every step she took, though as she looked around there was no sign pointing to Diagon Alley. No shop where you could pop in and get a wand. Of course, her mother had said that it was all hidden away, but still Jenny could only wonder where it all was.

They stopped at last, outside an old shabby pub on Charring Cross Road. The creaky frayed sign said the pub was called 'The Leaky Cauldron.' but the people passing them on the street looked from the clothes shop on one side to bookshop on the other as if the pub were invisible to them.

'They can't see it.' Claire explained sensing the confusion on Jenny's face. 'Only we can. Even your father wouldn't be able to see it. Come on then.'

She pushed the door open and stepped in. Cleo and Jenny followed.

The first thing Jenny saw was a broken bottle being hurled across the bar. A man was snarling, his wand in his hand pointed at another hunched man, with dull blue eyes. The barman was stood way back clearly not wanting to get involved. An onlooker stepped forward, placing a hand on the man with the wand out.

'Draco please, be reasonable.'

Draco turned his head to the onlooker and Jenny finally got a good look at him.

He looked as if he had not seen sunlight in over a year, his pale skin seemed to reflect any light that hit it. It was a dull grey morose colour void of any life or vitality. She couldn't tell whether his hair was pale blond or simply grey, it was combed back sleekly, much like the small goatee on his chin.

'Astoria. Come' Draco said stowing his wand away. A woman with wavy brown hair came forward and followed him out of the pub.

Chatter broke out almost instantly, Jenny saw the hunched man swear, crack his knuckles then leave the same way as Draco did.

'What was that about mum?' Cleo asked.

'I haven't the faintest idea. Tom!'

The barman stepped forward. He was a rather old and toothless man, the few grey hairs he had on his head stuck up straight into the air like an aerial.

'Claire, it has been a while. How are you my dear?'

'Can't complain. Just off to by school supplies for these two.'

Tom suddenly noticed Cleo and Jenny and gave a wide smile. Jenny counted two rather brown teeth.

'What's up with Draco?'

'I would tell you if I knew.' Tom replied. He gave the bar a quick wipe down with a filthy rag and began to pour a drink 'Old Beaumont Jackson was in mouthing off about something when Draco appeared. He seemed to take offense to it. Anyways I won't keep you. Have a nice day.'

A man wearing a balaclava approached the bar and took the drink Tom had poured. Claire said her goodbyes and headed out the back of the inn into a dusty courtyard.

'Draco was always the odd one... I wonder what he's gotten himself into?'

'He seemed pretty angry.' Cleo said, 'But... what are we doing out here?'

Cleo had asked the question that was on the tip of Jenny's mouth. The courtyard was empty, the only thing of significance was a cat who was sat cleaning itself in the corner. She knew they were heading for somewhere called Diagon Alley, but there was no way out of this courtyard except back into The Leaky Cauldron.

Claire however didn't respond. Instead she took out her wand and began to tap the bricks on the wall furthest away.

'There we go... come on, you'll want to see this.'

The bricks in the wall began to twist. The cracking slabs moved aside leaving an archway. An entrance to an old cobbled street.

'Welcome to Diagon Alley.'

Jenny wished she had seven extra pairs of eyes. To their left cauldrons were piled high into the air, twisting out of sight. To the right, a plump woman was complaining about the size of the Horned Toads outside an Apothecary. There were shops selling brooms, shops selling books and even a giant jokeshop plastered in orange. Claire however, led them to a tall white building, bang in the middle of the street.

'Gringotts, the wizarding bank. And yes, they are Goblins.'

She patted Cleo's hand away for he had just pointed at a small figure outside the bank. It was dressed in a royal red tunic but his eyes were looking stoically forwards as if nothing at all in Diagon Alley interested him.

Jenny saw Cleo mouth the word _'Goblins...'_ but he refrained from pointing at it.

Up the stairs, and into the grand marble hall. Here there were more Goblins sat on benches around the room weighing gems, counting coins and in one instance, reading a long list that trailed onto the floor while an agitated wizard in a pinstriped suit waited on the other side of the counter.

A goblin called Claire over. She breathed in deeply, then approached.

'Can I help you?' the Goblin asked. His voice was raspy and cracked. He reminded Jenny of a substitute teacher she had had at school once.

'Yes, I am here to withdraw some money out of the Abel vault.'

The Goblin peered over the counter at Cleo and Jenny. Jenny felt herself shiver. She wasn't sure she like the Goblin's piercing stare much.

'Very well... do you have your key?'

Claire nodded. She reached into her bag and pulled out and old rusty bronze key that Jenny was almost certain had been hanging innocuously in the kitchen for the past eleven years.

The goblin took the key, ran it through his fingers then placed it back down on the counter calling 'Barguff!'

Bargruff was another goblin. He led Claire, Jenny and Cleo out off the main hall and into a cool corridor where a set of tracks trailed off into the dark distance. He whistled and a cart came zooming out of the blackness. Cleo looked rather excited.

'If it's anything like Thorpe Park and you throw up on me,' Jenny said as she climbed in after her mother 'I swear to god I'll hit you.'

The cart sped off into the dark. As cool air whipped past Jenny's head she leaned over to look down into the depths, only to be pulled back by Claire.

'You'd be surprised how many people have fallen over.'

The cart twisted and turned deeper and deeper underground. Jenny was sure at one point she could hear the patter of a waterfall in the distance. When she asked her mother this however she shrugged.

'No idea... I know there used to be dragons down here... there was an... incident about twenty years ago. I don't know if they're still down here though.'

Bargruff remained silent when asked. Claire shook her head and grimaced. Clearly they were going to get no answer out of him.

The cart began to slow and eventually stopped with a jolt. They had stopped outside a bare brick wall. Bargruff exited the cart, turning to the wall he offered a silvery mechanical device to Claire who inserted the key into it and turned.

Just like the entrance to Diagon Alley, the brick wall turned and revealed a room beyond where a modest collection of bronze, silver and gold coins lay. Claire followed Bargruff out of the cart and into the vault where she began to pile coins into a small bag.

The ride back up to the bank was uneventful though looking at her brother, Jenny could tell that Cleo wasn't at all excited about the ride as he had been when he had got in and looked rather green. He was the first to disembark and hurried out of the bank. Jenny and Claire found him outside, leant over breathing deeply.

'Well...' he said taking a deep lungful of air 'I wasn't sick on you.'

Jenny wasn't taking any chances. She skirted around Cleo as Claire led them down the street and into Diagon Alley.

Cleo soon recovered, which was probably for the best because their next stop was Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions where they were fitted for robes. Standing at the back of the shop while a tape measure zoomed around her taking measurements was surprisingly relaxing after the cart ride and Jenny was rather annoyed when her mother dragged her off to look at cauldrons.

They bought their books in Flourish and Blotts where Jenny was tempted by a copy of 'The Adventures of Katherine Woodcroft.' The cover of which, showed a beautiful witch engaging in combat with a shadowy figure with scaly hands.

'You don't want that. It's for children half your age.' her mother said though Jenny was almost certain she had only said that as an excuse not to buy it for her.

From Flourish and Blotts they went to the Apothecary where Jenny's nose was assaulted by various aromas and they spent a pleasant couple of minutes' looking at all the items on offer while Claire purchased two sets of basic ingredients.

After the Apothecary they headed into Wizacre's Magical equipment shop where they got a set of glass phials, a handsome telescope each and a set of brass scales.

As they passed Magical Menagerie Claire suddenly stopped. She looked over her two children keenly then, her mind made up led them into the shop.

Half an hour later they left, Jenny holding a cage in which a small Tabby Cat was snoozing peacefully and Cleo holding a larger cage in which was an impressively large Eagle Owl.

'You do realise you won't be getting any Christmas or birthday presents for about ten years?' their mother told them. She gave a deep sigh then looked at her list 'Just your wands left now.'

Finally, a wand. Jenny was almost trembling with excitement. She followed her mother up the street until finally they arrived at a dusty old shop named 'Ollivanders.'

Claire pushed the door of Ollivanders open and stepped inside. As Jenny followed she heard the unmistakable sound of a bell in the depths of the shop. As the door swung closed behind her, the sounds from the street were muted.

A man suddenly appeared at the counter. His wide moonlike eyes surveyed Claire, Jenny and Cleo. The hair on his head wasn't completely grey but it was getting there. Thin strands of brown poked through and his lined face, not as aged as some Jenny had seen still showed a keen interest in the three of them.

'Claire Abel... my father sold you your wand... let me think, Larch and Dragon heartstring 11 1/2 inches?'

'That's right. We're here for Cleo and Jenny today though.'

The man leered over the two of them unblinking. His eyes travelled from Cleo to Jenny several times before he withdrew and smiled.

'Very well then, we best get to work. Now... my father was a lot better at this than I am... but... who is the elder one?'

Jenny raised her hand. 'Me.' she said.

'Then I do hope you forgive me when I say that I'll be sorting out your brother first. It's not very often I get twins and I often find that the youngest has a different kind of potential. If I see them last, their potential can fade away. Nevertheless...'

He moved over to a shelf where hundreds of wooden boxes were stacked, withdrew a select few then waved his wand. A tape measure appeared out of nowhere and began to measure all parts of Cleo's body. As the tape measure worked the man continued to speak.

'In my father's day he used three cores to make wands. Phoenix Feather, Unicorn hair and Dragon Heartstring. I have expanded somewhat to include both Thesthral hair and Dragon Scale, though I have seen no clear results on either of them. Today we shall be returning to the old ways. Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Bastien Ollivander. Let's get you a wand.'

He stood before Cleo, watching the tape measure for a moment until he clapped his hands and it fell to the floor.

'Now, boy... what is you wand hand? That is to say... are you right handed or left handed?'

'Right... handed.' Cleo muttered.

'Then try this... Juniper and Unicorn hair, eleven and three quarter inches. Rather rigid.'

Cleo took the wand Bastien offered him. He looked at his mother then back and Jenny then nervously gave it a wave. Nothing happened.

'Not to worry... uh, try this one Ivy and Phoenix Feather, twelve inches. Surprisingly Swishy.'

Again Cleo waved the wand Bastien gave him and yet again, nothing happened. Bastien didn't seem too upset. On the contrary he was getting more and more excited the more wands he gave Cleo to try.

'Unusual mixture... Ebony and Dragon Heartstring, eleven and three quarter inches. Rather supple. Give it a try.'

Cleo took this wand and waved it. Almost straight away golden sparks began to rain down from the ceiling. Bastien gave a cry of 'Bravo Bravo!' and Claire clapped.

'Fantastic. I'll get that wrapped for you. Now, miss...'

As the tape measure began to work on Jenny as it had Cleo Bastien rifled through the shelves yet again. He seemed to pull down every wand he had in stock until eventually he turned to Jenny.

'So... right hand as well? Good... let's try this one. Yew and Unicorn Hair, ten inches, quite dextrous.'

Jenny gave it a wave, but nothing happened. Bastien snatched it out of her hand and replaced it with another 'Cypress and Dragon Heartstring, ten and a quarter inches, slightly springy.'

Yet again, nothing. The wand pile was beginning to get larger and larger, until Bastien clapped his hands and exclaimed.

'Oh how could I be so stupid? Twins!'

He moved over to another shelf and rifled around for a moment until he pulled out another box, opened it and gave the wand to Jenny.

'Cedar and Unicorn hair. Eleven inches, reasonably supple.'

Jenny took the wand and felt a tingling running up her wand. She cautiously gave it a wave.

BANG! Something long and serpent like shot out of the end of Jenny's wand. It collapsed onto the floor and turned it's head.

It was a snake, or at least, what appeared to be a snake made entirely out of smoke. It turned its head and hissed slithering away until it faded into the air.

'Well... that was unexpected.' Bastien said after a brief pause.

'Sorry... was that not supposed to happen?'

'Well... each wand is unique. Each wand will announce it has found its correct owner in a different way. Some will, like your brothers, do something simple like sparks. Others will announce itself in more elaborate ways. My father for instance once sold a wand after it had set half the shop on fire determined that it's owner was the right fit for the wand. I'll be interested to follow your career Miss Abel.'

He gave Jenny a rather piercing look then turned to wrap up both wands, charged Claire fifteen galleons for the two wands and bid them farewell.

They left Ollivanders, all of them laden with heavy shopping. The sun was beginning to set now so Claire led the way back up the street, out through The Leaky Cauldron and out onto Charing Cross road.


	4. Chapter 4 Northbound

Chapter Four

Northbound

The remaining weeks of the summer holidays seemed to fly by. Jenny had expected the time to drag, as the anticipated start on September the first had seemed so far away from the start of the month. Still, it's not as if she had been doing nothing while she waited. Her new school books had kept her entertained enough, though a lot of it she didn't fully understand it was still at least interesting to read.

Her cat kept her company as well. She had decided to call her Aurora for all the times she had jumped at Cleo's display of the Northern Lights in his bedroom. It seemed to do the job of annoying him at any rate.

Cleo meanwhile had decided to call his owl Basir. He claimed it was because he had read the name in A History of Magic but Jenny was just as sure he named it after the Liverpool center-half Viego Basir. Cleo on his part denied it.

Both of them though, noticed the change in their mother. On the most part she was now happily using magic in the open in front of them and would often describe the spell she had used. She also began to get the wizarding paper The Daily Prophet delivered again. Jenny was sure she'd remember the first morning it had been delivered, she had been downstairs making breakfast, when a loud screech made her jump and a large barn owl swept into the kitchen dropping the paper on the floor.

On the last day of August, they ordered a Indian and sat in the dining room letting off indoor fireworks and listening to stories from Claire's time at Hogwarts, from the time she lost her wand and couldn't get into the Hufflepuff common room, to the time her best friend accidently turned her into a slug.

Though Jenny and Cleo would have loved to have stayed up all night listening to her stories, they had an early start the next day so by ten o'clock both of them were in bed asleep.

The following morning Jenny was woken not by her alarm, but by the loud crack of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning outside her window. She checked her watch, only to find it was six o'clock.

Despite it being so early however, Jenny was wide awake. She climbed out of bed, dressed and double and then triple checked that her trunk was properly packed before waiting excitedly downstairs.

Several hours later, after a hurried breakfast, Phil dragged their trunks downstairs and put them into the car. How two large trunks, a cat and an owl were going to fit into their small car was a mystery to Jenny. She had rationalised without the addition of her mother's spellwork of course. Claire put her fingers to her lips. Don't tell your father.

At nine o'clock they headed off. Out of St Albans and on the motorway for the short drive into London. The storm that had begun earlier in the morning pressed down harder now. They could barely see in front of them, and so what should have been a simple hour long drive, threatened to turn into two.

However, just outside of Edgware, the traffic thinned and they were able to make it to Kings Cross just in time.

They loaded their trunks onto two trolleys, stowed Aurora and Basir on top and made their way into the station. Claire led them to a barrier separating platform nine from platform ten.

'Okay. Now... the train... is beyond here. You need to walk through the barrier.'

Jenny raised her eyebrows at her mother but in all honesty she had expected something like this. The wizarding world wasn't the muggle world and things like this were bound to crop up now and again.

'Who wants to go first?' she asked.

Jenny gave Cleo a quick look, he seemed rather unsure and Jenny knew why, the barrier did look incredibly solid after all.

'I'll do it.' Jenny said after a brief pause. She lined up with the wall, gave her mother a look who nodded and began to run. The barrier was coming closer and closer, she was going to hit it. She was going to crash.

She didn't. She kept on running.

A great red steam engine lay before her, people packed around it. Children as young as she and older saying goodbye to their parents, catching up with old school friend and lugging their trunks onto the train. A sign hanging above read 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters.'

A sound behind her told her that Cleo had also successfully ran through the barrier between platform nine and ten. He stared in amazement at the train and the collection of people until their parents arrived and they went to find a carriage to sit in which they found at the back of the train.

As Phil began to lift their trunks onto the train (helped by a man with messy black hair and glasses), Claire turned to her children.

'Well... this is it.' she leaned in and hugged them both 'If you need me, send and owl... that's why I bought him. You have a good term. I'm sure you'll have a great time.'

Phil returned and hugged his children as well. He seemed pretty impressed.

'Well, you'll have to tell me all about it... because god knows your mother won't. Have a good year.'

A whistle sounded in the distance. Jenny and Cleo climbed onto the train. It began to move slowly, building speed with every passing second until King Cross was far behind them.

'Come on,' Jenny said, 'Let's find a compartment.'

Dragging their trunks behind them, they headed up the train, passing compartments where people were laughing heartily at each other's jokes, playing a card game that made loud bangs every few moments and in once case, a compartment where one boy seemed to have his mouth stuck to a girls face.

Eventually they found an empty compartment. Well, they thought it was empty. In the corner however was a boy who seemed to be roughly the same age as Jenny and Cleo, he had mousy brown hair, a thin thoughtful face and wide blue eyes like an owl.

'Oh... sorry,' Jenny said 'Do you mind? There's nowhere else to sit.'

'No problem,' the boy said.

Jenny pushed her trunk to the side and placed Aurora on top of it. Likewise Cleo paced Basir awkwardly on top of his trunk.

'Twins huh?' the boy asked seeming impressed 'I've never met any twins... the names Will by the way, Will Douglas. This your first year at Hogwarts?'

'I'm Jenny, this is my brother Cleo. Yeah... we're brand new.'

Will nodded, 'Me too. I've been looking forward to this day for ages. Being at home is so boring after a while.'

'We... didn't know about magic until a couple of months ago.' Jenny said.

'You must be muggleborn then.'

Jenny shook her head 'No, our mum's a witch, she just raised us without telling us about magic.'

Will raised his eyebrows. 'Did she? Why would she do that? It's... a bit weird.'

'I dunno...'

'Whatever. Do... you know what house you'll be in yet?'

Jenny shook her head, trying to think back to all the conversations she had had with her mother but all of them seemed to have blurred together, with no distinct fact or nugget of information she was able to recall.

'My dad was a Hufflepuff... my mum was a Ravenclaw, guess I could end up anywhere.'

'Wasn't mum a Hufflepuff?' Cleo asked Jenny and suddenly a memory cleared for her, of her mother trying to get into the Hufflepuff common room without her wand.

'Oh yeah, she was in Hufflepuff... what are the other three houses?'

Will gave a high laugh 'There's only four, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I wouldn't mind any to be honest... though Slytherin may be a bit weird.'

'Why's that?'

Will's raised his eyebrows, then he sighed. Jenny was starting to regret not listening much to her mother the past few months. It was if her mother had told her simple stories to entertain her and none of it had stuck.

'I don't suppose you know about the war?'

Jenny cocked her head 'War?'

Grimacing, Will bit his lip then slowly began to talk of the Great Wizarding War. Of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters, how a baby had survived an attack from the most evil wizard of all time, and how years later he arrived at Hogwarts, and saw the return of the wizard of had killed his parents and given him his unique scar. Then the war turned. Hogwarts was taken over by death eaters, Dumbledore killed by a person people assumed was a close ally. Then, the final showdown at Hogwarts. How Voldemort and Harry had clashed with the latter defeating the evil wizard once and for all.

As Will spoke the train had pushed out into the open countryside and it was nearly twelve thirty when finally he finished his story.

'I mean... it's alright now?'

'Yeah... I mean you get some nutters who still think about attacking muggleborns... but they're in a serious minority now.'

Cleo gave a deep sigh 'I wouldn't have liked to have been at Hogwarts then.'

'It was bad... but we'd have been alright. You just needed to prove you had at least one magical relative... though I doubt they'd like your dad.'

There was a sudden rustling sound and Jenny looked towards the door, where a plump witch pushing a cart laden with sweets had just arrived.

'Anything off the trolley dears?'

Hoping to get a pack of skittles, Jenny looked over the trolley, there were no skittles... but there was Chocolate Frogs, Every Flavour Beans and something called Screaming Chocolate. Jenny grabbed a couple of Chocolate frogs and paid the witch two sickles.

'Good choice.' Will said, picking out some every flavour beans 'They've just released a new set of cards. I need Ginny Weasley.'

Jenny raised her eyebrows at Will but her questioning look was soon answered as she opened up the chocolate frog to find a card inside. The card showed a red haired man with a long nose and a face covered in freckles. The back of the card read.

 _RONALD WEASLEY_

 _Ronald Weasley was instrumental in the downfall of You-Know-Who. He went on to become an Auror under Kingsley Shacklebolt's reformed Ministry and later returned to help his brother in the popular Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store in Diagon Alley. Ronald lives in Sidmouth with his wife, Hermione Granger._

'Ronald Weasley.' Jenny read 'He's...'

'Harry Potter's friend yeah.'

She turned to look at the picture to see Ron scratching his nose and yawning.

'I'm sorry I'm boring you.' Jenny said to the card and dropped it on the seat next to her.

As the day progressed the weather seemed to get worse and worse and by mid afternoon, the sky was almost totally black, rain lashing against the windows and the occasional bolt of lightning illuminating the dark sky.

Will meanwhile was taking Cleo through the finer points of Quidditch.

'So the seeker pretty much won the match for them.' Will concluded. Cleo was leant forward his mouth open somewhat.

'I wish mum let us have a broom...'

'You heard what she said about people flying when they don't know how.' Jenny said, she had brought out a copy of 'A History of Magic.' and was reading it with her feet up on the seat, Aurora sleeping peacefully on her chest.

Cleo seemed to ignore her. 'Have you been to any Quidditch matches before?'

Will nodded 'Oh yeah loads... I went to the Kenmare Kestrels game the other week, they got hammered by the Ballycastle Bats... and I used to go to the Holyhead Harpies games with my mum.'

'Why don't you go anymore?'

Will's face had turned pale. He lowered his head avoiding eye contact with either Cleo or Jenny.

'Well...er... my mum died a few years ago.'

There was silence in the compartment. Jenny heard a bang and a load of laughing coming from a compartment further up.

'I'm sorry.' Jenny said. Will finally looked up and smiled.

'It's okay... she was quite ill anyway.'

Hoping to draw the attention away from Will, Jenny reached into her trunk and pulled out her wand. She then flipped through 'The Standard Book of Spells: Grade One.' and began to read.

'You're not going to try a spell out are you?' Cleo asked.

'Yeah, I thought I'd try something...'

Will attempted to back away but seeing as he was in the compartment there wasn't really anywhere for him to go.

'You want to be careful with that. My dad's told me stories of people who tried to do magic and blew up half their houses.'

'I'll be fine... look a simple water spell, nothing bad can happen with this.'

She raised her wand and said 'Aguamenti!'

SPLASH!

Water began to jet out of Jenny's wand with such force she couldn't keep a hold of it. It flew out of her hands hitting the other side of the compartment wall and drenching everyone in water. Aurora screeched and clawed at Jenny's leg. Basir let out a low hoot and ruffled his wings. The water stopped flowing and the wand dropped to the ground. Picking up the wand from the ground Jenny gave Cleo and Will a rather apologetic look.

'Uh... yeah... maybe you're right.'

The compartment door slid open and all three of them looked up to see a boy a few years older than them looking at them with amused interest.

'You guy's alright?' the stranger asked.

'Uh... yeah, just a bit wet.'

The boy grinned and raised his wand. 'Siccumst!' and suddenly all three of them were dry as if they had been sitting in the sun all day.

'You want to watch yourself. Aguamenti is something for sixth years... not first years.' he grinned then closed the compartment door and left.

'Wow... that was... James Potter.'

'Who?'

'Harry Potter's son. Gryffindor Chaser.'

Jenny gave will a blank look which Will took to mean indifference.

'So, someone famous has a son that goes to Hogwarts.'

'No but listen, James Potter is a Gyrffindor right, like his dad, his other son, Albus Potter... is a Slytherin.'

'The snake house right?'

Will nodded 'Yeah, there was a lot of controversy about it a couple of years ago. It was in all the papers.'

'Why should it matter though?' Jenny asked. It seemed to her that if Harry's son was put in Slytherin that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, so Slytherin had produced a few dark wizards? So what, by Will's testament everything was back to normal now.

'Why should it matter? Well, You-Know-Who was in Slytherin. Lots of Death Eaters were. It's kind of like, Harry's saying what You-Know-Who was doing was alright.'

'But it wasn't... and besides Harry killed You-Know-Who.'

Will nodded 'I know. Most sane people know. But try and tell that to the fear mongers at the Daily Prophet.'

The train had started to slow, Jenny took a quick look outside the window but the storm was so fierce she couldn't see anything.

'The train will be arriving at Hogwarts shortly. Please leave your belongings on the train, they will be taken to the school separately.'

The voice rang out through the train and Jenny's excitement rose. Will and Cleo left the compartment, leaving Jenny to change into her school robes, then left to allow the boy's a chance to change. Eventually the squeaking sound of the brakes told Jenny that, at last, they had arrived at Hogwarts.


	5. Chapter 5 Hogwarts

Chapter Five

Hogwarts

They stepped out onto a windy platform, rain splattering across their faces and robes. In the distance, Jenny could just about see a large figure of man ambling towards them. His great beard just specked with grey while his mangy hair whipped his face.

'Firs'-years over here!' he cried and a small group who had managed to hear him approached. While they waited for the rest, Jenny saw a girl with blonde hair attempt to put up an umbrella but as soon she raised her arm, it was blown out of her hand and into the distance.

'Hey Hagrid!' an arriving redheaded girl said. The giant man gave her a pleased nod then looked over them as if counting, then led them down a short path away from the platform and all the other disembarking students.

They followed the muddy path for a minute until the giant man said 'An' here's Hogwarts.'

'Woah.'

They turned a corner, reaching a dock where a handful of boats were moored. Across the shimmering lake, was Hogwarts.

Even through the swirling storm, Hogwarts looked magnificent. A castle jutting out of the ground, it's many turrets and towers shooting up into the sky, light's from its windows acting as beacons in the storm.

'Four to a boat.' Hagrid said. Jenny, Will and Cleo clambered into boat and were joined by the girl with fiery red hair.

'Could be a rough ride' hang on.'

They set off, the whirling wind pushing the boats in various directions, one boat went so far in the wrong direction, Hagrid had to wave his wand to get him back with the fleet. Eventually, they pushed through a set of hanging vines until they reached an underground dock.

They climbed out onto a hard stone floor and Hagrid led them up a set of stone stairs until they stood in front on a large pair of oak doors. Hagrid knocked.

The doors opened almost instantly, standing there was a man wearing magenta robes. His worn face wore a warm smile, though Jenny noticed several scars on his hands and one on his neck.

'The firs' years Professor Longbottom.'

'Thank You Hagrid. Please go in and get yourself dry.'

Hagrid gave Professor Longbottom a nod and trudged into a grand Entrance Hall.

'Please follow me.'

The line of students followed Professor Longbottom into the large entrance hall. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they passed through, not going, as Jenny had thought, to the right where a babble of noise and laughter caught her ears. Instead, they went to the other side of the hall, into a small chamber lined with moving portraits.

Once they were all inside, Professor Longbottom turned to face the students.

'Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, soon you join your classmates in the Great Hall, but first you must be sorted into your houses. The Sorting Ceremony will place you amongst your peers, amongst those who value what you value, those who seek what you seek. They will become your classmates, your friends, your allies. But do not forget that those in other houses can also be friends and allies. They are not to be cast aside just because you do not share the same colours.

'The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house is has produced outstanding witches and wizards. Each house has had moments of glory. Each house has had moments of elation. I hope you all can be a great asset to whatever house you join. Now, I must go and check whether The Great Hall is ready for you. Please wait here.'

He left and the room broke out into an excited babble. 'How do they sort us?' Jenny asked Will who shrugged.

'I dunno. My dad would never tell me, he seems to think it's a rite of passage that no one knows what to expect. I can't imagine it's anything too stressful though.'

'I reckon you've got to perform some magic or something.' one boy began to say 'Why else would they get us in front of the whole school?'

Jenny gulped. Given what happened on the train she wasn't entirely confidant about performing magic. Still, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe she would just be asked to remember some spell's. She began to rack her brain trying to remember any spells she had read in her books, but she came up dry and gave a nervous gulp.

Professor Longbottom had returned. He clapped his hands and called 'We are ready for you now. Please follow me.'

He led them back out into the Entrance Hall and across to the Great Hall where the babbling noise stopped rather suddenly.

If Jenny wasn't so preoccupied with staring at the ceiling which showed a greying swirling blackness, and at the hundreds of floating candles over the four houses tables, she would have felt an intense awkwardness as all the students eyes fell upon her and the other first years. Still, she wasn't the only one who was distracted. A brown haired boy had his mouth half open in awe, so distracted he didn't even notice that his shoelaces were untied. Another girl seemed virtually terrified by the ceiling and the floating candles she looked close to tears.

Professor Longbottom led the first years up the middle of the Great Hall, between the four tables, until they arrived in front of the staff table.

Before them sat a stool and one the stool sat an old and tattered wizards hat. There was silence for a moment then the hat began to sing.

 _This is my song._

 _This is my tale._

 _Of a time long ago._

 _A time beyond the veil_

 _In these hallowed halls, four people did teach,_

 _of magic and learning and life they did preach_

 _There was Gryffindor, he was daring and brave._

 _A chivalrous heart which he took to the grave._

 _Of Hufflepuff, her kind and loyal heart._

 _Her patience and dedication really set her apart._

 _And dear Ravenclaw, the wisest of them all._

 _On her creativity and wit others did often call._

 _Yet Slytherin, for he was an ambitious sort._

 _His cunning and shrewdness never sold short._

 _For these four friends would teach and over their students they would fawn._

 _But who would teach and sort them, when they were all gone?_

 _And so I came and sorted. The brave from the wise._

 _So put me up upon your head, I never tell lies._

 _I sort you into houses, that's all I ever do._

 _Don't be afraid, don't be nervous, I'm here to sort you!_

The hall broke out into applause. Professor Longbottom pulled out a roll of parchment from inside his robes then began to read.

'Abel, Cleo.'

Cleo gave Jenny a nervous look then slowly approached and placed the hat on his head.

Jenny watched her brother nervously. Here they were about to be split up. She could tell. She was worried they were going to get split up at secondary school and now she was worried they would get split up at Hogwarts.

' _Gryffindor!'_ the hat bellowed and the table on the far right burst into cheers and applause. Cleo took off the hat and moved over to the Gryffindor table.

Well, if that was Cleo. There was no question who was next.

'Abel, Jennifer.'

Slowly Jenny approached the stool. It took great effort to raise the hat and place upon her head where it comically dropped down covering her eyes and the stares of everyone in the Great Hall.

 _'Ah... now l_ _et's have a look then shall we?'_

The hat's voice rang clearly in her head. Jenny breathed in deeply trying not to show her fear.

 _'You...can hear me?'_ she thought.

 _'Yes, yes I can. Now... where to put you? You want to join your brother of course, well you are brave... a bit arrogant, clever of course, ah... yes that makes sense. Well, I think I know where to put you.'_

 _'You do?'_

 _'Yes... I think..._ _ **Gryffindor**_ _!'_

The hat shouted Gryffindor so loudly Jenny's ears rang. She was slightly dazed for a moment until the loud cheering and clapping at the Gryffindor table told her where to go. She hurried over and sat down with a plop next to her brother.

'I'm so glad I'm in the same house as you.' she muttered to Cleo who laughed for a brief second then hugged his sister.

'Me too...' he whispered.

'Benson, William.'

'Slytherin!'

'Bones, Maggie'

'Hufflepuff!'

Watching the sorting hat from this angle was a lot more interesting now that Jenny knew she wasn't about to be called up. She began to predict with Cleo where the students would end up, though got rather annoyed when 'Clarke, Elliot.' ended up in Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw as she had guessed.

'Douglas, Wilbert.'

Jenny and Cleo both stared at each other for a brief moment. There was no point denying that both of them knew where they wanted Will to end up. He seemed however, to take a rather long time being sorted, until eventually the brim of the hat opened up and the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

'That was lucky,' he said dropping in next to Jenny, 'I almost got put in Ravenclaw.'

'Glad that didn't happen,' Cleo said 'and Wilbert?'

Will glared at him.

Guessing which house each student would get sorted into was a lot more fun with someone else, whether it was Will's demonstration that 'Fincher, Gideon.' clearly had never picked up a book in his lifetime an so couldn't possibly get sorted into Ravenclaw or Jenny and Cleo arguing over whether 'Patterson, Daisy,' was Hufflepuff potential or not. Jenny got her wish as after several minutes under the hat, Daisy came and sat at the Gryffindor table.

'Potter, Lily.'

The red haired girl who had shared a boat with them on the lake stood forward and placed the Sorting Hat on her head. Jenny saw James Potter give an encouraging wave.

'Gryffindor!'

Lily sat down next to Daisy Patterson. 'I almost thought I was going to go into Hufflepuff then.' she said.

The line of students waiting to be sorted was thinning now. 'Weasley, Hugo.' also joined Gryffindor receiving a grin from Lily and an encouraging nod from James.

'Wood, Heather.'

'Hufflepuff!'

'Young, Kirsty.'

'Ravenclaw!'

Finally with 'Zeller, Dominic.' 'Ravenclaw!' the sorting was finished. Professor Longbottom took the stool and the sorting hat away and everyone's attention now seemed to focused on the staff table.

As Jenny's attention had been focused on the sorting, she hadn't noticed the staff table but now watched as an elderly witch wearing dark blue robes rose from her seat to address the students.

'Welcome back to Hogwarts! To all new students, welcome. I am Professor McGonagall, headmistress. I hope you all have a fantastic time while at Hogwarts. I have words to say but first, let is indulge in this fantastic feast!'

Jenny suddenly realised how hungry she was. Devoid of any lunchtime meal her hunger was at an unquenchable level. If she was hungry then Cleo must have been famished. This was the boy who couldn't go two hours without having at least a sandwich. Jenny always thought it was lucky Cleo was active otherwise his eleven year old body would have had too much excess fat to count.

The food that appeared on the tables then, was all delicious. Turkey, Chicken, Beef, Lamb. With assortments of sauces and gravy to go with it. Roast Potatoes, carrots, peas, sweet corn, and platefuls of chips to make even the most stringent dieter tempted. Jenny put a bit of everything on her plate and began to eat, listening to the conversations around her.

'I dunno if the Arrows have it in them though. Didn't Demelza Robins miss out on the managing role?' said Cody Vasco, a blond haired boy who had been sorted into Gryffindor.

'Yeah,' Hugo Weasley replied 'But wasn't she going to move to the Kenmare Kestrels?'

Cody shrugged 'No idea, my dad said her husband works in the department of Education. Apparently he didn't want her to take the Arrows job.'

On the other side of the table, Daisy Patterson and Tandy Riggs were talking about their parentage.

'I'm muggleborn.' Tandy said 'I used to make plates fly around in the dining room. It used to scare my brother to death. Then again, it scared me to death.'

Daisy laughed 'Pureblood. Though it's just an expression these days, most purebloods have a couple of muggleborns in the family line somewhere.'

Next to her, Cleo and Will had struck up a conversation with Fred Denton, a wirey haired boy with bright green eyes.

'Maybe they've got wires hanging from the ceiling?' Fred asked. Cleo was considering the idea for a moment but WIll, Jenny noticed looked completely fed up with the whole situation.'

'Maybe it's magnetic? Like, opposite magnets on the ceiling and the floor keeping it floating?'

Jenny leaned into Will and asked 'What... are they talking about?'

Will gave a raspy sigh 'They're trying to work out how the candles are staying in the air. They won't believe me when I say it's magic. If I have to put up with this for seven years I think I'll go starker's.'

Jenny laughed and she was pleased to see that Will gave a chuckle as well. She turned now to the only other first year that was not speaking to anyone else.

'So,' Jenny said 'Lily isn't it?'

'I'm surprised you know me already. No one else really does. Except... they know my dad.'

'Harry... right?'

Lily nodded. She took a bite of chicken and looked over to the Slytherin table at a boy with dark black hair and green eyes. He looked quite moody but gave a laugh when a platinum haired boy next to him spoke.

'That's my brother Albus... you've probably heard of him already?'

'A bit...' Jenny said. Lily shrugged and pushed some lamb onto the end of her fork.

'I'm one of the last in my family to go to Hogwarts. Me and Hugo. There is auntie Luna's children... but they're not coming for a few years... plus she's not really my aunt.'

'If it makes you feel any better,' Jenny said 'Me and Cleo are the only ones to go to Hogwarts. Well, apart from our mum.'

As they spoke the food on their table vanished to be replaced by cakes, ice creams, éclair's and all manner of deserts. Jenny took a bit of everything but she was starting to feel rather full and sleepy now. Looking around she wasn't the only one. The girl who had looked terrified when she entered the Great Hall was trying not to fall asleep on the Hufflepuff table.

Soon, the deserts were cleared away and Professor McGonagall stood. Supported, Jenny noticed, by a walking stick.

'I have a few start of term announcements to make.' She said and eyes turned her way, all chattering ceased. 'Our caretaker Mr Croaker recently got a horrid case of limping logs and he has been in bed for most of the summer. He is back now but I would appreciate it if you were to be just extra kind to him. It wouldn't do well for you to agitate him further than he's already been pushed. Quidditch trials will be held in two weeks time. Anyone who is interested in playing for their house team, please see Miss Robins. Finally, it with great sadness to tell you that Professor Flitwick has retired. However, I am pleased to say that replacing him is Miss Ivy Alderton who will also be taking over as head of Ravenclaw house.'

There was a light round of applause. A woman with short black hair raised a hand in greeting.

'Well, I'm sure you are all full of food and excited to get to your lessons tomorrow morning. Good Night.'

Talk broke out almost instantly as people began to rise from their seats and leave the Great Hall. A blonde older student approached the far end of the Gryffindor table, Jenny noticed she had a red badge with a P on it.

'Hi guys. I'm Circe Dibbler. I'm the Gryffindor prefect. I'll take you up to our common room. Come on follow me.'

Pushing through all the exiting students (and getting some agitated looks as she did), Circe led them out of the Great Hall, up the marble staircase and into the depths of the castle.

Jenny didn't particularly pay attention to where she was going. Up some stairs, along a narrow corridor, down a spiral staircase then up another one. Her eyes followed the person in front of her, yawning with every step she took.

Eventually, Circe had led them into a corridor with a portrait of a rather fat woman in a pink dress. Like all the pictures in the wizarding world this one was moving. Jenny however had a little jump when the woman in the portrait giggled.

'So they made you a prefect Circe? Oh I'm glad. She truly is a wonderful girl. New first years?'

She eyed the first years with interest, pulling out a bottle of wine with a free hand.

'I was saving this for violet. But I think this is just an equally valid occasion... or do you want to get in?'

Circe smiled. 'Please. Pay attention guys, this is how you get into the Gryffindor common room.' she moved directly in front of the fat lady and said 'Mittens.'

'Oh very well... I shall just have to go and see violet.'

The portrait swung open and Circe stepped inside. The first years followed, finding themselves in a warm circular room with a blazing fireplace.

'Ok, boys dormitories are upstairs to the left, girls on your right. Get some good sleep, you'll have a busy day tomorrow.'

Jenny gave Cleo a hug saying 'Goodnight,' as she did, then followed Lily up the stairs to her dormitory.

Up the stairs to the top, she found that her belongings had already been brought up, placed around the bed on the far left. Aurora was also there, sleeping peacefully on her bed.

'Sorry buddy,' Jenny said as she got into her pyjamas and lifted her cat into the air and climbed into bed. Aurora gave a hiss, but laid back down on Jenny's chest and almost instantly fell back asleep.

Jenny, however didn't. Though she was tired, her mind was racked with various thoughts and ideas. She remembered back to her mother, though she had last seen her earlier that day it felt so long ago. She said she took Jenny and Cleo out of the magical world to give her some sense of normality. At first Jenny was upset that her mother had denied her a chance at a childhood she should have had, but now she realised that had she grown up in the wizarding world, all this would have seen mundane and for that, Jenny was rather grateful.


	6. Chapter 6 Evandrus and Bole

Chapter Six

Evandrus and Bole

The storm from the previous day had all but blown away when Jenny woke. Moving Aurora from off her chest, she got out of bed and changed into her robes. Someone must have brought in a new tie, for when Jenny opened her trunk she found not the plain black one that she had put in the other day, but a red and gold one instead.

Once dressed, she headed down to the common room to wait for Will and Cleo. As it was pretty early not many people were up. Jenny found a seat by the window and looked over the grounds. She saw what looked like a large figure coming out of a wooden hut near the edge of a forest and make its way to the castle and Jenny was almost one hundred per cent sure it was Hagrid.

Finally, Cleo and Will joined Jenny and they headed off downstairs to the Great Hall.

'Sleep well?' Cleo asked.

'Yeah it wasn't too bad... you?'

Will moaned 'Cody's cat kept clawing at his bedpost all night. I barely got a wink.'

They walked down a set of stairs, then along a corridor until Jenny stopped midstep.

'Where are we?' she asked. She had certainly not remembered coming this way the night before. Then again, she had not been paying much attention the previous night so it was possible that they had come this way.

'Er...'

Will's unresponsive remark wasn't particularly helpful. Cleo moved to a nearby window and looked down.

'Look, that's the lake,... so the Great Hall must be on the east side of the castle, so over here...'

He turned, now facing a blank wall. Groaning, Jenny walked down the corridor, dragging Cleo and Will with her.

Down another staircase, along another narrow corridor. Jenny's instinct was to get as low down as possible then just try turning through the twisting corridors until she got somewhere familiar.

A few floors down, they spotted someone they knew.

'Lily?'

Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley were standing by a statue of an old wizard with a great long bear, both of them looking rather confused.

'You guys lost to?' Hugo asked. Jenny nodded.

'We can't be that far.' said Will. A couple of older Ravenclaws passed them, one laughing, the other gave an annoyed sigh 'First years...' Jenny heard him say.

'Here!' Cleo exclaimed. Jenny, Hugo, Lily and Will hurried to the end of the corridor towards Cleo, to see the marble staircase that had taken them upstairs the previous night.

By the time they got to the Great Hall, half the Gryffindor table was already full of people eating breakfast. Jenny sat down in between Cleo and Lily and began to eat.

About ten minutes later, Professor Longbottom was making his way down the table handing out timetables to the Gryffindors, eventually he got to the first years.

'Okay, here are your timetables... where is Miss Patterson and Miss Riggs?'

Loud cracks as feet hit stone slabs and Jenny looked up to see an out of breath Daisy and Tandy hurrying up the Great Hall.

'Peeves...' Daisy said and she fell into her seat taking a timetable from Professor Longbottom.

'You'll want to be careful with Peeves.' Professor Longbottom said, 'He can be a bit... irksome.'

He moved on down the table and Jenny looked at her timetable.

 _Monday_

 _9AM: Transfiguration_

 _10AM: Transfiguration_

 _11:00: BREAK_

 _11:15: History of Magic_

 _12:15: LUNCH_

 _13.15: Herbology_

 _14:15: Herbology_

 _15:15: BREAK_

 _15:30: Charms_

 _16:30: Potions_

 _17:00: FREE TIME_

 _18:00: DINNER_

 _Tuesday_

 _9AM: Herbology_

 _10AM: Herbology_

 _11:00: BREAK_

 _11:15: Magical Studies_

 _12:15: LUNCH_

 _13.15: DADA_

 _14:15: Transfiguration_

 _15:15: BREAK_

 _15:30: Potions_

 _16:30: Potions_

 _17:00: FREE TIME_

 _18:00: DINNER_

 _Wednesday_

 _9AM: DADA_

 _10AM:DADA_

 _11:00: BREAK_

 _11:15: Transfiguration_

 _12:15: LUNCH_

 _13.15: Charms_

 _14:15: Charms_

 _15:15: BREAK_

 _15:30: Herbology_

 _16:30: FLYING LESSONS (Every 2 weeks otherwise FREE)_

 _17:00: FREE TIME_

 _18:00: DINNER_

 _Thursday_

 _9AM: History of Magic_

 _10AM: History of Magic_

 _11:00:BREAK_

 _11:15: Herbology_

 _12:15: LUNCH_

 _13.15: Transfiguration_

 _14:15: Transfiguration_

 _15:15: BREAK_

 _15:30: Potions_

 _16:30: Potions_

 _17:00: FREE TIME_

 _18:00: DINNER_

 _21:00: Astronomy_

 _Friday_

 _9AM: Charms_

 _10AM: Charms_

 _11:00:BREAK_

 _11:15: History of Magic_

 _12:15: LUNCH_

 _13.15: DADA_

 _14:15: DADA_

 _15:15: BREAK_

 _15:30: FREE TIME_

 _16:30: FREE TIME_

 _17:00: FREE TIME_

 _18:00: DINNER_

'Where's the Transfiguration classroom?' Jenny asked. Cleo and Will both shrugged.

'I think it's on the first floor. That's what Albus said.'

Lily was pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

'Did he tell you much about Hogwarts?' asked Jenny.

Lily shrugged 'A fair bit, but he said a lot of stuff you got to find out on your own. He didn't tell me about the sorting hat... no one did.'

Around five to nine, the first years headed off mixing into the throng of students out of the Great Hall and into the castle as their lessons began. As a group, the Gryffindors managed to find the Transfiguration classroom quite easily. Jenny didn't want to be wandering around the castle all day trying to find it. For one she'd miss the first lesson and secondly she didn't want to end up somewhere she was not meant to be.

Professor Higgs was waiting outside the classroom for them on the first floor. He was a rather elderly wizard with a lined face and auburn hair and beard. He nodded to the first years then they followed him into his classroom.

After calling the register he spoke.

'Welcome to Transfiguration! I am Professor Higgs and as well as being the Transfiguration teacher I am also head of Slytherin. I know Slytherin and Gryffindor have had a rough past but I'm here to put that to rest. I may be head of Slytherin, but I want you to know that if there is any problem you may have, my doors are always open.'

He moved in front of the board, gave it a tap with his wand and it filled with writing and complex diagrams.

'So! Transfiguration. A highly dangerous subject if got wrong yet if done correctly highly beneficial. We can create where there was nothing before. Change what is there and vanquish that which lies in our way. Today, however we're going to start a little bit simpler.'

He gave each of the Gryffindors a matchstick and told them they were going to learn how to turn it into a pin. After copying a handful of notes down and practicing the incantation, they began to work.

It was a lot more difficult than Jenny realised and by the end of the lesson she hadn't turned her matchstick into a pin as much as she had made it incredibly shiny. Professor Higgs didn't seem too bothered, however he did give them homework to practice the spell for another attempt tomorrow.

After a quick break where Jenny, Will an Cleo hung around the courtyard talking until the bell rang when they headed back into the castle for History of Magic.

History of Magic was taught by friendly looking wizard called Professor Rawkes who also happened to be head of Hufflepuff. He gave them a quick introduction then set them off reading a short paragraph in a textbook before splitting them into groups and asking them to perform a dramatisation of the Warlock Council of 1846. Jenny played an elderly witch who had been hit with Dragon Pox and was protesting movements rights of her kind only to be shot down by Daisy Patterson playing the bizarre Minister of Magic Hortensia Milliphutt who straight after decided to ban underwear for everyone.

'Excellent work people! For homework I would like you to write a Daily Prophet article reporting this very incident. '

After lunch, they headed out into the grounds and over to the greenhouses where Professor Longbottom was waiting. They were also joined by the Hufflepuffs who all looked rather excited.

'Everyone here? Good, come on in.'

He led them into one of the greenhouses. Jenny's collar felt incredibly restrictive around her neck all of a sudden as a blast of heat hit her. She wasn't the only one who looked rather hot, Tandy Riggs looked positively flushed.

After calling the register, Professor Longbottom stood in front of all the students and began to speak.

'Welcome to Herbology! I'm Professor Longbottom and I'm also head of Gryffindor so I'm sure all the Gryffindors here will get to know me well over the next few years. Now we are in this particular greenhouse for very particular reason. I'm sure you notice how hot and humid it is? Well, that is because we are storing a rather interesting plant here. It needs this heat to survive otherwise it's just too cold. Especially considering the weather we had last night. Now, this plant is mostly found in the jungles of central Africa but has also been discovered in South East Asia. It is called Reichman's Tulip. And it is rather dangerous.'

Professor Longbottom turned to a desk and put on what looked like a thick pair of gloves before reaching down underneath and pulling out a bright colourful plant. It's leaves were green, no orange, no blue. It's red flower seemed to be thrashing around trying to latch itself onto Professor Longbottom's finger but finding only thick leather instead.

'This is why you want to use thick gloves when dealing with this flower. It's bite has an incredibly powerful toxin that, if mixed with spores from natural non magical plants can kill a man instantly. Fortunately, we don't have any plants that emit that spore here.. but look at its leaves, why would you think it needs to keep changing the colour of its leaves?'

Jenny found herself raising her hand.

'Yes, Miss Abel?'

'Because... it can attract animals and people then eventually bite them?'

'Very good, five points to Gryffindor. Mostly rather regretfully the people who it catches are muggle. You see it's after animal or human blood which it uses to feed on. It has incredible draining power as well... now...'

Cleo gave Jenny a nudge and she broke away from watching Professor Longbottom detail how the plants roots were used in various potions and pointed to Daisy who was staring at Professor Longbottom with rapt attention, a rather dreamy smile plastered on her face.

'What's up with her?' he asked.

Jenny opened her mouth to reply but was stopped from doing so by Will who leaned his head in.

'He helped out in the war. He killed a Snake with a sword. The giant snake belonged to You-Know-Who. He's a bit of a legend around here.'

Jenny looked around at her fellow classmates. She was shocked to see that at least nine of them seemed to be staring at Professor Longbottom with the same level of admiration that Daisy had been.

'You three paying attention over there? Come on!'

Professor Longbottom made them make detailed diagrams of the plant before began to take notes on how it could be used in a Wolfsbane potion. Eventually the bell rang and the Gryffindors headed upstairs to charms while the Hufflepuffs headed into the dungeons for Potions with the Ravenclaws.

Professor Alderton was a rather enthusiastic witch. As they entered the charms classroom she began spinning various items around their heads before making the desks and tables dance their way into position before everyone could sit down.

'Charms is very very broad. That is one of our major troubles. How can we define Charms when what we learn encompasses everything? We can use a charm to help us win a duel. We can use a charms to help is triangulate the positions of the stars in the sky. Over the next few years that's what we'll be doing. Focusing on what a charm actually is, how to use it and how best to define it.'

After taking a few short notes on what defines a charm, the bell rang and the Gryffindors headed downstairs to their final lesson, Potions.

Professor Bole was a rather short tubby man with a few strands of grey hair sticking up on his otherwise bald head. Like his hair his skin was also rather grey as if he had spent most of his waking moments down in this dim dungeon.

'Welcome to Potions... I am Professor Bole. Now today we don't have much time so I will simply be going over the plans for the year and if we have time at the end of the lesson I shall show you what we will be working on next lesson.'

Potions had seemed interesting to Jenny at first though she was slightly annoyed that they wouldn't be making anything today. Still, she pulled out a roll of parchment and a quill and sat waiting for Professor Bole to begin the lesson.

'Our main focus this year is to be looking at what a potion is, what elements are needed to construct a potion and a very brief history of potion making. Of course, this will be intertwined with making potions. We'll start off small with simple boil potions and then hopefully by Christmas you'll be able to make a simple Coughing Solution. By the end of the year I expect each and every one of you to be able to brew a restorative draught.'

Professor Bole moved to the board. He waved his wand and a piece of chalk began to write upon it, scratching against the coarse surface.

'These are our course aims. I'd like everyone to write these down please and then write down on a separate piece of parchment what you hope to get out of this year's classes.'

The dungeon was silent as everyone began to write down the course goals. Cleo gave a short yawn. This clearly wasn't as exciting as the previous lessons, even History of Magic which Jenny hadn't expected to be so interesting.

After she had finished writing the course goals, which took the majority of ten minutes, Jenny tore off another piece of parchment and leered over it wondering.

What was she expecting to get out of these years lessons? Considering her knowledge about Potions was so low it was probably laughable, there wasn't one lesson she'd not learn something from. As others around her began to sit up, finishing their writings, she scratched something down about getting a better understanding of how Potions worked and hoped that that would be the end of it.

Professor Bole had begun tinkering with a cauldron, adding various items into it, muttering and occasionally waving his wand. Eventually, he looked up at the class, clapped his hands and said 'So! If you've all finished, please have a look at this. This is a very simple potion I've been brewing, a simple stomach settling concoction. Eases the gut after a scratchy meal or for nerves or the like. I just wanted to show you the shimmer on the top of cauldron. See how it pops now and again. Potions will always have a way of telling you their complete. Each potion has a different way of doing it however, but it's of utmost importance you find out as soon as possible what signs any particular Potion has. If you ignore it and add a little more knotgrass you could end up ruining the potion or even killing someone. I advise you to learn the tells of a potion as soon as possible.'

All of a sudden, the bell rang and the class began to file out.

'Homework, I want each of you to give me two paragraphs on what you think the first potion ever brewed was. To be handed in tomorrow afternoon, no excuses. Oh and Mr Evandrus if I could speak to you briefly.'

A dark haired Slytherin boy Jenny recognised as Sylvester Evandrus looked up, sighed and slowly made his way to the front of the class as the rest of the students left. Just as Jenny reached the door however, the strap of her bag tore and her books fell onto the cold dungeon floor.

Telling Cleo and Will that she would be fine and she'd meet them back in the Gryffindor common room, Jenny began to pick up her books. She was the only one, bar Professor Bole and Sylvester Evandrus, who was left by the time she had picked them all up. She left the classroom, letting the door swing shut behind her and was about to head back up into the Entrance Hall when a loud bang forced her to stop.

She looked behind her, the sound had definitely come from the Potions classroom she had just vacated. Making sure she couldn't be seen, she ducked low next to the door and pressed her ear against it.

'...if your father knew...' came the voice of Professor Bole.

'He doesn't.' replied a soft voice which could only have belonged to Evandrus, 'He knows nothing.'

Bole let out a exhausted sigh. 'Even so... You are calling a serious danger into this school. You are only eleven years old.'

'No one knows what I am, even you.'

There was a long pause.

'Just think about what I said, please.'

'I cannot promise.'

There came the sound of footsteps from within, quickly, Jenny hurried away from the door and hid in a dark alcove where she hoped no one would see her.

The door of the potions classroom opened up and Evandrus stepped out. He looked up and down the corridor before turning left and heading down further into the dungeons, assumedly to the Slytherin Common Room.

Jenny waited a couple of moments before she left, just in case Sylvester came back. Making sure that Bole was still in the Potions room, she lightly stepped away from her dark alcove and then hurried up into the entrance hall and up to the Gryffindor common room.

'M...Mittens.' Jenny said five minutes later, her heart racing, for she had ran the seven flights of stairs back up to Gryffindor tower, eager to tell Cleo and Will what she had just heard. She clutched her side and gave several deep breaths.

'Of course.'

The fat lady's portrait swung open and Jenny climbed in to see Cleo and Will sat down next to a window, their school bags strewn around them. 'What took you so long?' Cleo asked.

Jenny waited several moments, allowing her breath to return before she explained what she had heard Bole and Sylvester talk about.

When she had finished Will gave her a thoughtful look 'I think my dad knows about the Evandrus'. He had a business deal with them a couple of years ago... my dad breeds Hippogriffs.' he added looking at the confusion on Jenny and Cleo's faces.

'I think Cathan Evandrus came to our farm to confirm the deal... he's foreign... I think he went to Durmstrang... but I had no idea he had a son. What did he say... about calling a serious danger into the school?'

Jenny shrugged 'I don't know, that's just what he said.'

Will gave her another thoughtful look but said nothing. Though she had originally thought that Potions had been the most boring lesson she had had, it seemed it had given her more to think about then all the over lessons combined.


	7. Chapter 7 Potters War

Chapter Seven

Potter's War.

For the next few day's Jenny Will and Cleo could talk of nothing but what Evandrus and Bole could be up to. Their suggestions started rather wildly, with Cleo suggesting that they were planning on resurrecting Lord Voldemort. It was only when Will said that no one could come back from the dead did he drop the idea. Still, something was going on between the, Bole had spoke of a 'serious danger into the school,' and considering the fact that moving staircases, things that would be considered dangerous in the muggle world were perfectly normal in the wizarding world meant that whatever it was would be beyond any of their perceptions.

Besides wondering what on earth the Potions Master was up to, they still had many new lessons to go to. On Tuesday, Jenny and Cleo went to their first Magical Studies class taught by Professor Snow, a friendly witch with pale white hair, matching her name almost perfectly. They, and other students who had grown up in muggle households were given an introduction into the wizarding world. They would learn how the Ministry of Magic worked, basic magical concepts and phrases. Meanwhile, Will and other people who had grown up in wizarding households were taught all about the muggle world and how it worked. Will returned from the class desperate to know what a tellyvision was.

The class everyone had been looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts. In fact, Jenny, Will and Cleo were so excited for the class they headed to the third floor classroom a quarter of an hour before the class actually began.

Professor Shepherd was a rather youthful looking man, though Hugo was adamant he was older than his own father. Light brown hair fell in front of his emerald eyes, while his thin, rather jagged face was topped off by a light smattering of hair on his chin.

Fortunately, their assumptions that his class would be interesting was absolutely spot on. They spent the lesson learning about a history of the dark arts and Professor Shepherd enthralled them with a tale of how he had captured a dark wizard in Mexico only three years ago.

After their break however it was time for Potions again. Fortunately, this lesson was much more interesting than the first one had been. They were set to work on making a simple boil cure Potion and, while Jenny would have liked to have used a bit of time studying Evandrus, the potion really required all of their attention. From the two brief looks she did get however, nothing he was doing was out of place or particularly malevolent, at least yet.

On Friday evening they returned to the Gryffindor common room to find a sign posted up on the notice board.

 _FIRST YEARS_

 _Flying lessons will begin next Wednesday at half past four. Please be on the training lawns promptly._

 _Professor N. Longbottom._

Jenny gave an audible groan. She was not looking forward to flying. At all. Cleo on the other hand looked positively enthralled.

'What kind of brooms do they let us fly with?'

Will gave an unassuming shrug. 'No idea... I bet it's something old like a Firebolt...'

Will, who had grown up flying his father's Hippogriff's didn't seem particularly bothered about learning how to fly, but he and Jenny seemed to be in the minority. Over the weekend, the talk amongst the first years was on one thing entirely. Flying.

Lily, whose mother had played Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies kept telling anyone who'd listen about the time when she was three and stole her mother's broom and flew off, being rescued shortly after by her father. Meanwhile Cody Vasco kept reciting scores of all the Kenmare Kestrels' games he'd been to. It wasn't solely among the Gryffindors either. Quidditch seemed to be a rather prominent topic amongst other houses as well. There was a clear divide between Gryffindor and Slytherin, especially in Quidditch, all from the time, according to Will, when Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin in every game back then. These day's however, the barrier wasn't so wide.

Wednesday arrived, and most of the Gryffindors were eagerly awaiting the afternoon when they head out onto the grounds to begin their flying lesson. Luckily for Jenny however, the day seemed to drag by, double charms in particular was considerably more lengthy than usual.

However, at half past four the bell rang and the Gryffindors eagerly made their way down to the training lawns were it appeared a group was already waiting for them.

As it transpired, they were taking their flying lessons with the Slytherins. Eighteen brooms were arranged in a circle whilst in the middle stood a young witch with blonde hair tied into a ponytail.

'Good afternoon everyone. My name is Madam Robins I'll be teaching you flying this year. Now. Would everyone like to stand next to a broom please.

Jenny dropped her bag into a pile with the other Gryffindors and stood next a rotted broom with twigs sticking out all over it. Looking up she saw that she was stood opposite Evandrus. He wasn't focused on the brooms however, his eyes were instead focused on a small green book he was holding however as soon as Madam Robins passed him he put it back into his pocket where it remained for the rest of the lesson.

'I would like each of you to place a hand over your broom. Do not pick it up, just place it over the broom. Then when I blow my whistle, I'd like you to say 'Up'. Do you understand?'

There was a general murmur of agreement. 'Very good. three two one.'

The whistle blew and all around the circle came the sound of people saying 'Up.'

Jenny looked down at her broom and sighed. 'Up.' she said.

Nothing happened.

'Up...' she repeated.

The broom lay motionless. Annoyed, she turned to Cleo who's broom seemed to have jumped into his hands the first time.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'I-' Jenny began but was cut off by a shrill laugh from the other side of the circle.

She turned to see a hard faced Slytherin girl with long dark hair sneering at her.

'Look at that can't even pick up a broom.'

Jenny wasn't particularly sure it really mattered. She was hardly the only one who wasn't currently holding their broom. Daisy Patterson's broom was still motionless as was a Slytherin Jenny recognised as William Benson.

Ignoring the girl. Jenny put her hand over her broom again and said 'UP!' with force.

The broom fell to the side ever so slightly but otherwise remained still. The Slytherin girl laughed again.

Madam Robins told everyone to pick up their brooms and mount them. Then she went around the circle double checking the grip.

'When I blow my whistle I would like each of you to kick off from the ground hard, rise a few feet then touch back down. Ready.'

Jenny kicked off but she wasn't expecting much to happen. However much to her surprise the broom rose a foot into the air and hovered for a second before Jenny lost control altogether and collapsed onto the hard ground.

They Slytherin girl laughed again harder. Furious, Jenny clambered to her feet, glaring at the girl.

'What's your problem?' she snarled.

'You think you're even a witch Abel? Can't fly a broom, from what I've heard can't even turn a needle into a matchstick. I reckon they must have made a mistake when you got your letter.'

'Who do you think you are? You think you're better than anyone just because you can fly a broom?'

The girl's mouth twisted into her own snarl 'My name is Mandy Parkinson Abel, and if I were you I'd watch your tongue unless you want it to be used in next week's double Potions.'

Jenny's hand curled into a fist, but before she could do anything Madam Robins had called to them.

'Abel, Parkinson, are you paying attention?'

Jenny turned to Madam Robins ignoring the laughs from Parkinson. Ten minutes later, she angrily picked up her bag and followed Will and Cleo, who were excitedly talking about the lesson ignorant of Jenny's bad mood.

She knew the flying lesson was going to be a disaster but to that level, she hadn't expected at all. Still, she wasn't the only one who had made no headway with their flying, Daisy was rather upset about the whole lesson, but from what she had gleamed from their excitement before the lesson, she had wanted to learn to fly when Jenny hadn't.

Jenny hurried to the common room, pushing past Cleo and Will, eager to start her Transfiguration homework and push the entire thing out of her mind. She was already a quarter way through her homework by the time Will and Cleo arrived.

'You alright?' Cleo asked dropping into a seat next to her.'

'I'm fine Cleo...'

'You sure...'

Jenny twisted her head and glared menacingly at her brother. He knew that look told him to back away. She returned to her homework but had only managed to write another sentence before Will spoke up.

'Don't worry about it Jenny.'

'I'm trying to work.'

'I mean it... a lot of people put stock in being able to fly, but it's not the be all and end all... there are other ways of getting around. Like... apparating... you know...uh, teleportation... we don't learn that until our sixth year though.'

Jenny gave a raspy sigh. Placing her quill down on the table she looked outside the window where she could see Hagrid teaching a class.

'I don't know... I just assumed... I mean I'm doing well in all my other subjects... I just assumed I'd be good at flying as well.'

'Everyone has to have a crutch... it's what makes us human.' Cleo said.

Jenny was rather shocked to hear this wisdom coming from Cleo, but she appreciated it all the same. As the evening continued her mood steadily increased. By the time she went to bed, Aurora scratching at her feet, she was content. So what if she couldn't fly. She'd be good at everything else. That'd show everyone, especially that Mandy Parkinson. With those warm thoughts drifting through her head she fell into a deep slumber.

The next day passed mostly without incident. Thursday's double Potions lesson would have been nightmarish without Will and Cleo easing Jenny's temper not to turn around and punch Parkinson in her stupid face. The Slytherin girl was adamant that she'd ridicule Jenny for not being able to fly but she was the only one who really cared. At the end of the lesson, after it appeared that she had not had much effect, she was the first to storm out of the classroom and down into the Slytherin common room.

Friday was an exciting day for multiple reasons. Firstly James Potter introduced Chelsea Norris as the new Gryffindor seeker. From what Jenny knew about Quidditch (which admittedly wasn't much), she would be a perfect seeker. Small, light and agile. In fact she was so diminutive she would often get lost amongst the armchairs in the Gryffindor common room.

The second exciting thing came after lunch as the Gryffindors headed down to Defence Against the Dark Arts. There were two people standing outside the classroom today. One of them as usual, was Professor Shepherd. The other man had a head of messy black hair, glasses, and what looked like a scar shaped like a lightning bolt.

'Oh no...' Lily groaned.

'Good afternoon class.' Professor Shepherd said 'As you can see we have a guest today. I'm sure you're all excited so let's not waste any time and get in there and introduce him.'

The class hurried inside. Jenny Will and Cleo took seats near the back of the classroom and as Professor Shepherd took the register, Jenny took a closer look at the famous Harry Potter.

By the way some people spoke about him, Jenny would have expected him to be radiating a golden glow. However his skin seemed pretty pale, there was a scar on his left hand that looked as though it dug pretty deep and the five o'clock shadow around his jaw made him look as if he hadn't got any sleep in days.

'So, I'm sure you all know our guest... but if you don't... well I'll let him introduce himself.'

Harry cleared his throat.

'Uh... yeah... Good afternoon everyone. My name is Harry Potter, I'm the head of the Auror department in the Ministry of Magic. I'm here to give a demonstration of duelling and just give a talk about how it all works.'

He looked rather nervous. Professor Shepherd moved in front of the class and said 'So, we'll get started. Now normally we don't do duelling until you're in your second year... and we won't be doing it after this either so...make the most of it. Why don't Harry and I give you all a demonstration of how a duel works first? Then we can try splitting you into pairs and give you some basic tips?'

The class looked excitedly on as Professor Shepherd and Harry face each other at the front of the classroom.

'In professional duelling, it's always courteous to bow to your opponent before the duel begins. Show's respect and show's you're not going to kill them.'

Harry and Professor Shepherd both bowed. Then they positioned themselves, wands raised pointing.

'Now... neither myself or Harry will be aiming to kill the other person, so don't threat there. Of course when in a proper duel with dark wizards...well... anyway would someone like to count us in?'

'Three, two, one, GO!'

Cleo's countdown was soon marred by the bang that came out of Professor Shepherd's wand. Harry dodged the oncoming spell and threw one back.

Admittedly Jenny had seen very little magic compared to many other people. In the two short weeks she had been at Hogwarts she had seen nothing at all like this. The movements, the rapidness of which Professor Shepherd and Harry attacked each other. At times neither of them even spoke an incantation but moved their wands with such speed their hands became a blur as spell after spell left them.

With a final shout of 'EXPELLIARMUS!' Professor Shepherd's wand flew up into the air and was caught easily by Harry.

The class applauded. Professor Shepherd took a bow and pocketed his wand as Harry handed it back looking rather embarrassed about the whole situation.

'Very good. Though I think Harry was a little too tough on me. A cutting hex... really? Anyway, I think it's time we split you all up and teach you a very simple spell to help with duelling. Okay... let's see...Miss Patterson would you like to partner Mr Denton. Mr Abel can go with Miss Potter and... Miss Abel if you'd like to go with Mr Vasco. And... Miss Riggs if you and Mr Douglas would like to go together please... oh and Mr Weasley if you'd like to join them.'

Jenny stood and walked over to Cody who was sat at the front of the class looking admirably up at Harry. As the others grouped together Professor Shepherd gave a flick of his wand and vanished all the seats and desks creating a clear and empty space to work in.

'Now, the spell we're going to be teaching you today is very simple. It's called the knockback jinx and essentially does exactly what it say's on the tin. Harry if you'd be so kind.'

Harry raised his wand and pointed it at Professor Shepherd. 'Flipendo!' he cried.

A jolt of white magic shot out of Harry's wand, hit Professor Shepherd in the chest and pushed him back several feet.

'Thank You. Though it is not a powerful spell, it's important for you to learn, even the basic of spells so you can get a good understanding of how defensive magic works. Now... I want you to all try. Take it in turns to cast the knock back jinx on each other. Myself and Harry will be around to give pointers. Off you go.'

Jenny turned to face Cody who grinned sheepishly at her. He raised his wand crying 'Flipendo!' but the only thing that seemed to happen was Jenny lost her balance for a brief second and almost fell over.

In turn, Jenny didn't do much to Cody either. Though she was proud to say that her spell at least caused him to fall over. As they took turns Professor Shepherd and Harry were walking around the class advising each person how best to use the spell.

'Flipendo!' Jenny cried throwing the spell towards Cody who toppled over face first onto the ground.

'Oh... I'm sorry are you alright?'

Cody stood up. His face looked rather red and he grunted, taking a step back to cast another spell at Jenny. This spell hit her square in the chest and just like Professor Shepherd, she was pushed back several feet.

'Not bad...how are you finding it?'

The voice belonged to Harry Potter. He approached the pair, though his question seemed to be directed firmly towards Jenny.

'I... haven't really got a hang of it yet.'

'No problem. It's pretty simple just keep your hand stiff. Don't wave it around like a conductors baton. Do you mind?'

Cody shrugged and Jenny raised her wand for another try.

'Flipendo!'

The white spell shot out of Jenny's wand and like his had done, hit him straight in the chest. Admittedly he didn't get pushed all the way back, but it was at least half a foot. Harry gave her a quick nod then walked over to talk to Hugo.

Forty minutes later, the bell rang and the class gave a disgruntled moan. It had been their best Defence against the Dark Arts class so far. In fact, in the two weeks they had been at Hogwarts, their best lesson so far full stop.

Lily and Hugo hurried up to the front of the class as the rest of the students filed out. Jenny, Will and Cleo all wishing the lesson had gone on for just a little bit longer.

'I do hope you're alright sleeping on the spare bed Harry?'

Hannah hurried into the living area, holding a set of blankets in her hands. The space, she and her husband occupied was rather packed, mostly with plants, books and various newspaper cuttings. A giant old toad sat locked in a large tank in the corner.

'I'll be fine thanks Hannah. Don't you worry... Ginny's off for the weekend and Ron and Hermione are busy so it'd either be sleeping here or sleeping alone at home.'

'Did they enjoy it today?' Neville asked, looking up from a copy of the Evening Prophet.

'I think so... well... you know Tiberius... he's an old friend of Bill's... but I think they enjoyed themselves.'

Neville gave a hearty laugh 'Imagine if we had the teachers these kids have got?'

'Oh because you're the best Herbology teacher ever are you?' Hannah said. She began to lay down the quilt onto the spare bed, then with a flick of her wand, two comfy looking pillows appeared and landed softly at the end of the bed.

'Well... I...'

'She's got you there Neville.' Harry said with a laugh.

Neville narrowed his eyes forcing both Hannah and Harry to laugh again.

'What did you want to talk about Harry?' Neville said trying, it seemed, to redirect the conversation.

'Ah yes... uh... Hannah do you mind giving us a moment?'

Hannah nodded. 'Sure... I need to go and check on some potions of mine anyway.'

Once Hannah had left, Harry took sip of tea then looked into the crackling fire. Memories came crawling back to him of his own time at Hogwarts and though he had been back since the war... this time felt much more real for some reason.

'Draco.'

Neville looked up from his paper. 'Malfoy? What's he been up to?'

'That's the thing... I don't know.' Harry gave a sigh and took another sip of his tea, wishing it was something stronger.

'He's been slipping up. He was supposed to come into the ministry for a check the other week but he didn't. His wife... well... god knows what she thinks. You'd have thought his stint in Azkaban would have been warning enough.'

'You don't think he's planning something... dangerous.'

'No.' Harry said quite flatly and Neville jumped, 'I've spoken to him plenty of times since the war ended... he's not about to launch us into the next war...'

Neville eyes met Harry's. Neville blinked. It was clear he didn't feel one hundred per cent convicted of Draco Malfoys innocence as Harry did.


	8. Chapter 8 The Friendly Giant

Chapter Eight

The Friendly Giant

Several weeks had passed since Harry Potter's guest visit to Defence against the Dark Arts. Jenny could finally make her way, unimpeded around the castle without fear of getting lost, though the chance of getting accosted by Peeves didn't really change much at all. The lessons were becoming more and more interesting, the Potions more and more tricky to get right and unfortunately the homework had started to come in thick and fast. It was with great shock that Jenny realised she had now been in Hogwarts a full month. Her old home life hadn't been forgotten though, as her mother sent weekly letters updating them with news about the family and occasionally sending muggle chocolates for them to eat.

These occasional letters from her family, although making her miss her parents more than ever reinforced the idea that she was where she finally belonged. The normal world, the muggle world felt so mundane now that she didn't think she would ever be able to go back to it. Summertime was going to drag. Especially as she had been told she wouldn't be able to use magic.

Hogwarts though was more exciting than her old home. Though when she later came to think, it wasn't much of a fair comparison. Her old home didn't have a giant lake or a sweeping lawns to explore. She hadn't had much of a chance to explore the grounds either save for the occasional walk out to the Herbology Greenhouses. So, on the first Saturday in October, Jenny decided to go for a long walk outside. Admittedly she did have homework to do but, she reasoned, she could always do it on the Sunday.

She woke early, before anyone else in the dormitory had even considered, changed and hurried down into the common room where she excitedly waited for Cleo and Will who had agreed, although not particularly enthusiastically, to come along.

It took twenty minutes before Cleo and Will had managed to struggle downstairs, yawning and rubbing their bleary eyes.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon now, though the dark clouds looked to swallow it up just as quickly as it had risen.

'Why can't we do this later?' Cleo asked as they clambered out of the common room.

'Or never?' commented Will 'We've still got that History of Magic homework to finish, I don't want to leave it to the last minute.

Jenny frowned.

'If you don't want to go for a walk with me, fine. You can go back up to bed and I'll find a new friend and twin brother to hang around with.'

'Alright we'll come.'

Jenny smiled. She could always get her way with Cleo with that line. It wasn't something she did too often though, she never wanted Cleo to think she was just using him.

By all accounts it was early and Jenny had no idea if it was going to be too early. She knew there were rules for leaving the common room late at night but she didn't know how far into the morning the rule stretched. She voiced her concern to Will who seemed to pass it aside.

'I don't think it's going to be too bad. I mean it's only... six o'clock. If it was like, four then maybe it would be a problem but I doubt anyone would raise an issue being out at this time.'

Thankfully, on their way downstairs, they saw what looked like the dreary exhausted faces of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team returning to their common room after an early morning practice.

'They don't look to happy...' Jenny muttered as the Ravenclaws passed them.

'I'm not surprised. They've probably been up since around three.'

The front doors leading down to the grounds were wide open when they arrived in the Entrance Hall which, like the corridors above, were empty. Once outside however, Jenny spotted several cats lazily sunbathing in a small patch of sunlight, one watching a fly circling above their heads.

The morning dew of the grass slipped across the front of their shoes as they made their way down to the lake. The air was fresh and their was a gentle autumnal breeze that threatened to push the overbearing rainclouds in their direction.

They passed the Herbology Greenhouses and aimed their feet down around the lake with the forbidden forest behind them. As they walked they spoke quite freely with each other. Will gad started to ask questions about Jenny and Cleo's life before they had come to Hogwarts. His muggle studies lessons had only gone so far to tell him what life was like so to hear how computers worked and what the postal service was directly from Jenny and Cleo was something else entirely. Equally, Cleo and Jenny were excited to hear what Will got up to in the wizarding world, how his father bred and sold racing Hippogriffs, how he grew up on their ranch in Wales, and briefly about how Will's mother used to ride the Hippogriffs with him before she died.

As they walked, the weather worsened. The breeze turned into chilly gust, whipping up around them, the sun retreated into the dark clouds and around two hours after they had set off around the lake, the rainfall began.

The ground sagged under their weight and now the focus was less on talking to each other and more on making their way around and back up to the castle in as short a time as possible.

Jenny raised her hood only to have it pushed back by the wind almost instantly. Behind her she heard Cleo grumble. Maybe if she had chosen a different day to go out for a walk.

As they round a corner of the lake, they passed the Quidditch pitch where even now, several blurred shapes could be seen zooming in and around the stands. Jenny hadn't even given a lick of a thought to Quidditch ever since her first disastrous flying lesson but she knew Cleo was more than enthralled by the idea of the sport and would listen intently whenever Will would discuss the matches he had been to.

A bit further on from the Quidditch pitch was a wooden hut that sat alone at the edge of the forest. Outside, several pumpkins were growing in a patch, larger than any pumpkin Jenny had ever seen. This, they knew was where the gamekeeper and half giant Hagrid lived. Jenny had heard tales from James Potter in the Gryffindor common room about Hagrid during the war. He seemed almost too terrifying to believe.

Suddenly, a rumble of thunder up above caught Jenny unawares and as she gazed skywards for the inevitable crash of lighting that followed, she missed the root that was sticking up from an old yew tree. Her foot however found the root and she toppled over, her face finding the soaking muddy ground.

'Aah!'

It felt as if her foot had detached itself from her body. Attempting to detach herself from the gnarled root her eyes caught the concerned faces of Cleo and Will looking down at her.

'Jenny!'

Cleo knelt down next to his sister and place a hand on her shoulder.

'Don't move to much it'll only make it hurt more.'

'Get someone!'

'Who?' Will said panicking.

'Doesn't matter, someone's already coming.'

Jenny heard it too, the thunderous thumps on the ground then the feeling of someone very strong but gentle lifting her up from the sunken earth and into a warm wooden hut.

'Is she alright Hagrid?'

'Looks like a dislocated ankle to me. I reckon I can sort it out tho.'

The giant dropped Jenny onto a bed, she lifted herself up to see Cleo and Will hurry into the hut.

'Now what was it... ain't reparo... not instaurabo that'll take er foot off... what was it?'

'She really should go to the hospital wing Hagrid.'

'S'no matter I got it. Ah! Contrinumus!'

A warm feeling spread through Jenny's toes in an instant, relaxing her muscles and easing her foot into a more natural position. The pain had vanished almost as quickly as it had arrived.

Jenny looked up at her saviour. The giant gamekeeper gave her an encouraging grin behind a large beard that was scratched with grey. Behind Hagrid, Cleo and Will had come forward both looking relieved and soaked to the core. Behind them, at a giant table was Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley.

A sudden scampering sound forced Claire to look down to see a large German Shepherd dog nestling his soft head in between Jenny's legs.

'Get outta there Rufus ye dumb dog.'

Hagrid raised a wide hand and waved the dog away.

'Close that door would ye? Otherwise he'll run out and roll in the mud and I ain't spending Saturday cleaning up his bloody mess,' Hagrid turned to Jenny 'Ye alright?'

'Yes... thank you.' Jenny replied in an almost terrified voice which Hagrid didn't seem to catch.

'S'nothing. Reckon you'll take things a bit careful for a bit, though I don't mind saying, you don't half scream loud.'

'She always over reacts.' Cleo said.

'Hah... reckon yer right. You the Abels then?'

'Y-Yes.' Jenny flustered 'I'm Jenny, this is my brother Cleo... how did you-'

'These two.' He nudged his head towards Lily and Hugo.

'Oh.'

'And... I remember you.'

Will nodded. 'You bought a Hippogriff off my father. The auburn one.'

'Mayla! Emerich Douglas? Up in Snowdonia?'

'Yeah. He loved that Hippogriff was sad to see her go.'

Hagrid gave a warm smile.

'Well you tell year dad she was absolutely wonderful. Died last year unfortunately... but I still look after 'er young.'

A clash of thunder sounded overhead, Rufus whimpered slighting from his bed in the corner.

'Well, come on over, got some tea if ye fancy it, an' I can fry up some bacon too.'

With a lift from Cleo, Jenny stood, equally afraid of putting too much weight on her foot and of the giant who was now counting teabags.

The small hut was soon sizzling with frying bacon and the rustle of a self serving teapot which poured equal amounts in Jenny, Cleo and Will's mugs as they sat around the giant table.

'Hagrid was just telling us, weren't you Hagrid, about your... condition.'

'Yeh don't 'ave to tell everyone! Bleedin hell. Yer worse than yer father.'

Hugo turned away from Hagrid, awkwardly trying not to catch his eye. Instead he focused on Rufus who was watching the bacon sizzle with keen interest

Hagrid let out a sigh.

'I don' suppose you three know much about me?' he asked, turning to Jenny, Will and Cleo.

'A bit...' Jenny said awkwardly.

'Only what others have said.'

'Right well, I had a bit of a issue couple a years ago. Went to Cambodia to help an old friend with some research. He thinks I was bitten by something, cos ever since me hearts not been right... beating out of rhythm they say. A couple of them bugs out there will do that to yeh. Anyway couple o' weeks ago now, Madam Abbott confirmed it. I got Lewrins disease. All magical... effects my heart rate... gotta keep drinking a potion to keep it regular. That's Professor Bole's job, but mind you he had a hard job convincing the ministry to let him have some of the ingredients. Whelp Grass is a class A tradable good.'

'But once they found out who it was for, surely they'd allow it?' Lily asked.

Hagrid gave a warm smile 'Well... yeh can thank ye dad fer that. Walked right into the ministry and told em'. They didn't hesitate after that.'

He took a sip from his mug of tea, which appeared to drain it completely, and took another look at Jenny, his eyebrows narrowed in concentration.

'I know you don't I? Sure I do...'

'Um...'

'Whose your parents?'

'Claire and Phil.'

'Not Phil, don't member anyone called Phil. It's not... Claire... Keele?'

Jenny nodded. Hagrid let out a guttural 'Aaaah.' in realisation.

'Claire Keele... I remember her. Hufflepuff, with her little pigtails... how old is she now thirty eight... thirty-'

'Six.' Jenny responded wondering why Hagrid was so interested all of a sudden.

'I haven't seen her in years... what happened to her? Short stint in the ministry then vanished.'

He looked to Jenny as if expecting her to be able to give a precise run down of mothers activities ever since she had left school. Jenny shrugged and a quick glance to Cleo told her that he had no idea either.

'I dunno, she was always at receptionist a Doctors Surgery.'

'Uh... well... maybe she wanted a bit of quiet after you two were born? Some wizards do, don like bringing kids up in the wizarding world... dunno why though.'

It suddenly struck Jenny that she didn't know either. She knew her mother was a witch and that she had gone to Hogwarts. But that was it, nothing else had come out when she had been telling them of what went on in the wizarding world. It was never what happened after she had left Hogwarts. What had she done? Will's father bred Hippogriffs and everyone knew about Lily and Hugo's parents. Why hadn't her mother told her?

'Mum's invited you over for Christmas day Hagrid.' Hugo was now saying.

'I've told her, I'd rather spend Christmas here, she can come I'm sure McGongall wouldn't mind.'

'I'm not having my mother come to Hogwarts for Christmas.' Hugo said.

As Hagrid, Lily and Hugo began talking about the Potter/Weasley family, Jenny glanced at Cleo and Will, both of whom looked as if they had had enough.

'We better be off.' Cleo said rising from his chair.

'Not stayin fer the Bacon?'

'Uh, no... sorry. Think I'll just go and... rest my leg.'

'Oh ok then. Well yer welcome to come down fer tea if ye like. Anytime.'

Thanking Hagrid for the tea, they left the hut and headed back out into the never ending wind and rain of the storm, careful this time, not to get themselves caught on anything that could cause too much harm.

Much later that evening, Jenny, Will and Cleo were sat around the fire working on their History of Magic homework. Outside, the storm still battered the grounds. The lake had began to swell and, for what they could see, in the distant forest the trees were rattling against each other so violently, Jenny was surprised they weren't ripped from the ground.

'What do you think mum did?' Jenny said suddenly looking up from her homework, her quill held loosely in her hand.

'Oh... Hagrid said she was in the ministry wasn't she?'

'Yeah but... the ministry's going to be pretty big isn't it? It's going to be hard to say exactly what she did.'

'Why don't you write to her?' Will said, not looking up from his own work.

Jenny scoffed. 'Oh what would I write? "Dear Mum, Just wondering what you did with your life?. Love Jenny" I can't just write that and expect her to answer it.'

'Then don't ask her. Look it's no big deal. My dad new a couple that went into the muggle world to raise their kids. It happens. The magical world is a dangerous place, a lot of parents think their kids would be better off growing up in the muggle world. It gives them a different perspective on life, lets them appreciate the wizarding world more.'

'And your parents didn't-'

'It's not as if they never thought about it, they just never could. The farm existed long before I came along.'

Jenny was not convinced. Something about the whole situation felt off and she was going to find out what if it killed her.

'Hey is that Draco Malfoy?'

The voice was James Potters. He was sat two tables away from Jenny, Will and Cleo with his own friends. His face was pushed up against the window looking into the stormy grounds.

'Give up James,' one of his friends said 'I'm not falling for that?'

'No it is! Look!'

'It is... what's he doing at Hogwarts?'

All around the common room people began to scramble to the nearest window. Jenny quickly dropped to the floor and crawled past a couple of sixth years. She was lucky she was so small, she was able to push up against the nearest window and look down to the scene below.

There indeed was Draco Malfoy. Multiple flashes of lightning clearly caught him creeping across the dark grounds.

'Didn't you say you saw him when you went to Diagon Alley?' Will asked.

'Yeah, he was threatening someone... why's he here now?'

'Maybe he's come to see his kids?' Cleo suggested.

Will looked down to the grounds to where a flash of lightning made Draco's pale face just visible. 'Seems an odd way of going to visit his kids, sneaking through the grounds, late at night.'

Jenny's mind raced back to the day in Diagon Alley. Who had Draco threatened? Why was he sneaking up to the castle as if he didn't want to be seen?

Jenny raised her head to look up at Cleo and Will but they didn't seem to have any idea either and by the time she had turned her had back towards the grounds, Draco had gone.


End file.
